If the first Bush was “born with a silver foot in his mouth,” did Senator Kerry acquire one when he married Teresa?
The White House has now completed a repudiation of its “stay the course” rhetoric – a repudiation that began, fitfully, months ago. Since no one – not even hawks – has much interest in staying the course if that means continuing to do exactly the same things we have been doing in Iraq, the administration’s rhetorical adjustment is shrewd. Bush also gave a frank press conference, acknowledging the disappointments and failures in Iraq and vowing to find new ways to address them. Since people had begun to suspect that his optimism on Iraq was detached from reality, this adjustment too was necessary. But, as ever, the most important events are on the ground. The Baghdad security plan has, predictably, failed. General Casey says he is considering asking for more troops for Baghdad, and he should. Meanwhile, we are creating benchmarks for Iraqi political performance as a way of pressuring Prime Minister Maliki to make the difficult choice to confront the Shiite militias that are helping drive Iraq into the abyss. It is often said that there is no purely military solution to Iraq’s problems. But neither is there a purely political one. We need to try to do a better job on the security front so that the Iraqi government has the breathing room it needs to do the necessary work on the political front. This will take time, and we hope the White House bought itself some with its repositioning.
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