My first thought: Why not send Obama to Afghanistan? They’ll make quick work of the warrior-king.

My second thought: Wait. His replacement would be Joe Biden, a hawk who supported the Iraq Massacre.

My third thought: How far down the Presidential line of succession would we have to go to find a principled anti-war Presidential replacement?

The answer: assuming that Congress stays in Democratic hands, it would be to number four Robert Byrd.

I don’t see Nancy Pelosi as a serious opponent of war (and I hope Cindy Sheehan kicks her ass). Byrd, however, has been a leading voice in the Senate against the Iraq war, and he opposed funding for Afghanistan as well. He did support Clinton’s war against Serbia, and his overall record is not especially progressive, but he’s still pretty good for an Exalted Cyclops. Besides, if he’s not counted as an anti-war potential successor, you could go all the way down the list and reach (ugh) Michael Chertoff, without reaching anyone who is as anti-war as Byrd.