Sunday's Top Opinion: Kaine's majority

Washington’s political culture suffers from many deficiencies, not least among them a team-sports approach to politics that elevates superficial point-scoring above questions of substance and weight. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine has marched admirably against those headwinds.

Kaine himself has conceded that politics is a team sport. But he has risen above it through his dogged determination to produce a serious debate over war powers, particularly regarding U.S. military action against the Islamic State.

He has succeeded in no small part because his key points are beyond dispute.

First, President Obama has exceeded his constitutional authority by acting unilaterally (and in contravention of his own stated principles). The Islamic State does not present an immediate threat to the U.S. homeland requiring a response too rapid to permit congressional deliberation.

Second, Congress has abetted Obama’s behavior by abdicating its responsibility to lead. Many in Congress are happy to see the U.S. take action against ISIS, and equally happy to let the president take all the political risks such action entails.

Kaine rightly has condemned such cravenness. The country’s leaders have no business asking young men and women to risk their lives on behalf of a cause for which they are not even willing to risk a vote.

Thanks to the junior senator’s leadership, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has now approved a measure authorizing force against the Islamic State. It includes an expiration date and provisions to repeal or revise two now-defunct authorizations for the use of force that Obama has used as the legal pretext for acting alone.

Kaine’s insistence on holding both the legislative and executive branches accountable is all the more remarkable because it puts him crosswise with Obama. Kaine supported Obama for president very early, when it was still risky to do so. He was on a short list for vice presidential prospects, and Obama persuaded him to lead the Democratic National Committee.

A full floor vote did not happen before Congress adjourned for the holiday, but Kaine already has ensured the issue will not be ignored next year. That is quite an accomplishment. (Virginia’s other senator, Mark Warner, has had more time in the Senate and achieved less.)

In theory, it takes at least 51 votes to get anything done in the Senate. By forcing his colleagues to take their constitutional responsibilities seriously, Kaine has proved the truth of the aphorism that one man with courage makes a majority.

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