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At a time when our political system is said to be incapable of rising above poisonous partisanship to promote the national interest, Gen. David Petraeus’s visit to Capitol Hill last week was instructive.

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What — you didn’t know Petraeus was in town for make-or-break hearings on President Obama’s Afghanistan policy? Well, in a way that proves the point.

In September 2007 Petraeus returned from Baghdad at a comparable moment in the Iraq war. The week he was in town Iraq filled 42 percent of the newshole monitored by the Pew Research Center’s News Coverage Index — mostly with stories that Petraeus is unlikely to want in his scrapbook.

A full-page MoveOn.org ad branded him “General Betray Us.” Protesters jeered him and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. Then-Sen. Hillary Clinton said that Petraeus’s claims of progress were not credible.

Like Iraq then, the Afghanistan war today is unpopular; the president has ordered a surge in U.S. troops that has aroused skepticism; and most Americans want U.S. troops home.

Yet Petraeus’s appearances last week, this time accompanied by Defense Undersecretary Michle Flournoy, could hardly have been more different.

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin (Mich.), kicked off the week by saying that Petraeus’s counterinsurgency strategy had been “instrumental in turning the tide in Afghanistan.” The panel’s ranking minority member, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), agreed: “We are turning around the war in Afghanistan.”

On the House side it was the same story, but with the Republican going first. “Our forces have made significant gains in the past year and have reversed the Taliban’s tactical momentum,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.). “I want to start by concurring with the chairman’s remarks about the progress that has been made in Afghanistan in the last year to 18 months,” said ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.).

Many members went on to probe aspects of U.S. policy, often skeptically, just as you’d hope legislators would: about Afghan corruption, Pakistani instability, suicide prevention and brain-injury treatment, the war’s high cost in lives and money, and the perceived free-riding of allies. But the questioning was respectful and directed at improving U.S. policy, not proving that it had failed.

There are many reasons for the contrast. Historic events from Japan to Libya overshadow news from Kandahar. Petraeus’s success in Iraq, combined with his deft political touch, has made him as close to bulletproof as anyone can be in this town, and he obviously wasn’t counting on that alone; it was astonishing how many members seemed to have just returned from the front.

Most important, the progress in Afghanistan is real — but, then, that was true in Iraq in 2007 and had little impact on the political debate, when there was such bitterness between President George W. Bush and Democrats that Iraqi reality was almost irrelevant. Bush had played the “soft on homeland security” card mercilessly and effectively, and Democrats were looking for payback.

Obama’s escalation, when 73 percent of Americans want substantial numbers of troops brought home, would seem to open fertile ground to Republicans. But from their leaders on down, they haven’t sought to plow there. In this instance at least, politics really has stopped at the water’s edge.

Meanwhile, the president has cocooned his activist policy in minimalist rhetoric. He never speaks of victory or idealistic goals, certainly not for the Afghan people. When he announced the surge in December 2009, he simultaneously emphasized a July 2011 withdrawal. When he nudged that withdrawal clock to the end of 2014, there was no address to the nation marking the new emphasis.

There are costs to this reticence. It’s hard to build support for an unpopular war if you leave that job to Petraeus and Flournoy, as capable as both are. Already, Congress is threatening to reduce funding for the civilian side of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, which could undercut both missions.

On the other hand, by doing as much as he thinks necessary while talking as little as he thinks possible, Obama may make it easier for all kinds of politicians to stay on board — Republicans who vilify him in almost every other context and liberal Democrats who dislike the policy, whose supporters hate the policy and who therefore would rather talk about almost anything else.

It may not be exactly how textbooks say leaders are supposed to lead — and if you believe the war is a mistake, it’s a picture of democracy failing to respond. But if, like Obama, you believe we need “an enduring, long-term commitment to Afghanistan,” as Flournoy paraphrased last week, “having made the mistake historically of walking away and then paid a very dear price for that,” then it is reassuring to see that Washington can stick with something hard, in a bipartisan and civil way.

Given the alternative still fresh in his memory, that’s probably good enough for Petraeus as he flies back to the war this week.

fredhiatt@washpost.com

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7:07 p.m. | Updated As the Wisconsin public workers’ protests against Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to strip their collective bargaining rights stretches into its 17th day, national groups on both sides are launching air strikes. But neither side’s advertisements seem geared to help end the stalemate.

Republican National Committee
The Spot “Obama’s Union Bosses,” 30 seconds

Message “Barack Obama is preparing a billion dollar campaign,” the narrator begins, followed by text on the screen that reads, “2012: Year of the Billion Dollar Campaigns?” and “2008: Unions Spent $400 Million to Elect Obama.” As pictures of Mr. Obama and union protests flash across the screen, the narrator cites economic ills micro to macro.

“Obama and the union bosses are standing in the way of economic reform,” the narrator says, later adding, “They made this mess, let’s clean it up.”

Audience The ad is set to run in Madison and Milwaukee through Friday, said Kirsten Kukowski, a R.N.C. spokeswoman. (She did not respond to more specific questions about cost.) Wisconsin is only referenced obliquely, via a shot of a demonstrator’s sign depicting Mr. Walker with a Hitler mustache and a local headline about school closures due to walkouts. This spot, which has already been on the R.N.C.’s Web site for a week, is more about Pennsylvania Avenue 2012 than Madison 2011 – but Wisconsin is nonetheless a swing state.

Democracy for America/Progressive Change Campaign Committee
The Spot “Republican War on Working Families,” 60 seconds

Message Interspersed with shots of the protest outside the capitol are close shots of individuals, snow collecting in the folds of their clothes as they estimate the cuts to their income.

“This is Republican class warfare, an attack on the middle class,” says a woman identified as Kathleen Slamka, an electrician.

“I believe that the issues being discussed in Madison are not unique to Madison and the state of Wisconsin,” says Jeremiah Holden, an educator. “These are national issues. Money is being taken away from workers and the tax breaks given to major corporations.” (Mr. Walker recently signed bills that would let companies new to the state avoid taxes for two years and give credits for creating new jobs.)

Audience The liberal groups behind the ad originally spent $50,000 to produce and buy their initial set of airtime, which started today in Madison and Milwaukee and was to run through Friday on all the networks and some cable channels, including CNN and MSNBC. However, according aides for the groups, an online fund-raising campaign brought in an additional $125,000 over about seven hours on Wednesday, so they expected to expand the buy to include Green Bay and run through Sunday. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. has already been on the air in support of the public workers.

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President Obama and his political rivals in Washington have jumped into the epic battle in Wisconsin between organized labor and the state’s newly elected Republican governor over the rights and benefits of state workers.

Efforts by Scott Walker, the state’s Republican governor, to slash collective-bargaining rights of public employees prompted days of protests at the state capitol by thousands of union workers, fueled and organized in part by Mr. Obama’s own political apparatus in Washington.

Even as Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin fled their own state in an attempt to stall a vote in the Republican-controlled state senate, Mr. Obama decried the tactics of Mr. Walker as “an assault on unions.”

That prompted House Speaker John Boehner to rip into Mr. Obama, accusing him of having “unleashed the Democratic National Committee to spread disinformation and confusion in Wisconsin.”

Mr. Boehner, in a statement, praised Mr. Walker and other Republican governors for making the tough decisions to cut spending. And he chided the president for siding with the wrong side in the contentious Wisconsin debate.

“Rather than shouting down those in office who speak honestly about the challenges we face, the president and his advisers should lead. Until they do, they are not focusing on jobs, and they are not listening to the American people who put them in power.”

The sharp-edged retorts from Mr. Obama and Mr. Boehner reflect the broader debate in the nation’s capital as Democrats and Republicans dig in to rigid positions about spending, investment, the deficit and changes to entitlement programs.

In the next two weeks, Democrats and Republicans in Washington are set to play a game of chicken with the federal budget. The government’s authority to spend money runs out on March 4 and could force a shutdown in federal services unless the parties can agree on a new spending plan.

But despite recent calls for bipartisanship and promises to work together in Washington, the standoff in Wisconsin is a preview of how easily discussions could disintegrate into chaos.

For Mr. Boehner, the Wisconsin debate is another opportunity to preach a message of fiscal restraint in the face of demanding unions and government employees. Republican governors in several states, including Wisconsin, have said they must make drastic cuts to deal with huge budget problems.

By jumping quickly to condemn Mr. Obama’s comments, Mr. Boehner explicitly questioned the president’s leadership, suggesting he is unwilling to make the deep sacrifices necessary to put the country on the right fiscal path.

Other Republicans, too, see opportunity in the imagery coming out of Wisconsin. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who is trying to head off a primary challenge from the Tea Party in his state, praised Mr. Walker and other Republican governors for making “tough choices” in their budgets.

“It is too bad that Washington Democrats are attacking them rather than following their lead,” Mr. Hatch said on Thursday. “President Obama’s comments today were, frankly, way off base. The only assault is from a bunch of self-interested government union employees who are putting their interests ahead of the interests of the Wisconsin taxpayers who have been funding their runaway spending.”

He added: “This is not the way public servants should behave.”

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Republican chairman of the budget committee in the House, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “It’s like Cairo has moved to Madison these days.”

For Mr. Obama and the Democrats, the Wisconsin debate provides an opportunity to stand by their supporters in organized labor in a part of the country that is likely to be an important battleground during the 2012 presidential election campaign.

It also allows Democrats to once again raise questions about Mr. Boehner’s willingness to see government jobs lost.

This week, Democrats seized on Mr. Boehner’s comment that if government jobs were lost because of the cuts that Republicans are calling for, then “so be it.” Democrats now view the situation in Wisconsin as another example of Mr. Boehner taking sides against workers.

Former Representative David Obey of Wisconsin on Thursday accused Mr. Walker of acting like Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president of Egypt, as protestors marched in the streets of Cairo.

“I think what Gov. Walker is trying to do amounts to political thuggery,” Mr. Obey told Talking Points Memo. “It is one thing to say that these are tough times — everybody’s got to cut back and public employees are going to have to take cuts like the rest of us … but he’s using it as an excuse to gut the ability of workers to organize and bargain collectively. In my view that’s outrageous.”

A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee declined to respond to Mr. Boehner’s accusation of spreading disinformation. But officials confirmed that Organizing for America, an arm of the party, has been “quietly, but significantly, involved in
building grassroots energy and organizing protests.”

The political efforts on behalf of the union workers in Wisconsin were undertaken at the direction of Tim Kaine, the D.N.C. chairman, according to officials at the party.

In addition to helping build crowds for two rallies in Madison this week, O.F.A. organized 15 “rapid-response phone banks” aimed at getting supporters to call state lawmakers. The effort covered 10 cities in Wisconsin, officials said.

Volunteer leaders of O.F.A. helped organize the rallies and youth leaders at college campuses brought buses to help transport people. Another O.F.A. program sought to get letters published in 23 targeted newspapers in Wisconsin. O.F.A. also used blogs, Facebook, Twitter and e-mail messages to rally opposition to Mr. Walker’s efforts.

Mr. Boehner, in his comments Thursday, said Mr. Obama should call a stop to those efforts.

“I urge the president to order the D.N.C. to suspend these tactics,” Mr. Boehner said. “This is not the way you begin an ‘adult conversation’ in America about solutions to the fiscal challenges that are destroying jobs in our country.”

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