I have heard Derb say many times–and he probably said it in print too–that the American public would stick with Iraq through the January elections and if things didn’t get markedly better after that, they would start to lose their patience. Unfortunately, it’s beginning to look like he might have been right. One problem is that American enthusiasm for fighting to spread democracy around the globe is pretty limited. Bush has to make the case that American security–not just democracy, human rights, etc.–but American security is deeply implicated here. The other problem is that conditions have taken a downturn over the last couple of months. The insurgency and the fight against it is about adjustments–and the fact is that the insurgents have adjusted to our adjustments that had culminated in the success of the elections and the immediate aftermath. I have very little doubt that Bush is going to stick this out, but he’s probably going to have a tough selling-job here at home.