It is a simple question
"Why oh why did the Democrats not leave the ball in Bush's court...?"

And there is a simple, and principled, answer.

A) they could not leave the ball in his court without a veto proof majority which they do not have for another 1.5 years.

B) to do so (only symbolically mind you - see A above) would turn over all of the keys to government to exactly the douche bags who got us into this mess - not just for the next 1.5 years, but for the 4 or maybe 8 or ??? after that as well.

Simple question. Not so simple answer.

I believe that by following this course of action, they have not only left the ball in his court, they have superglued and bolted it to his forehead. Now, he cannot claim that he was not given everything he asked for to "win" the war. It's a shit game we are playing, and people are dying while we play it.