Surging George W. Bush

I have been off trying to tend to the bank account and not tending to this. Besides, I had to take a day or two to see if I could work up a better comment than Doug Masson. I admit that could not watch Bush for more than fifteen minutes. I had already watched Armed and Famous and had my fill of crap television. Am I the only one who thought that Bush's demeanor was strange? A certain deadness in the eyes and the area around them? I thought there was a disconnect between his words and his expression. Absolutely unconvincing and uninspiring.

The press seemed to push the fact that Bush admitted his mistake. The Boston Globe started its review with "Make no mistake about it: President Bush is admitting he's made some in Iraq." David Corn's blog at The Nation started with: " George W. Bush finally has dipped his toe into the reality-based pool." The Associated Press story as run by Toronto Star started off this way:

President Bush acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he erred by not ordering a military buildup in Iraq last year and said he was increasing U.S. troops by 21,500 to quell the country’s near-anarchy. “Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me,” Bush said.

The Washington Post had this in the second paragraph of their review; "In a widely anticipated nationally televised address, Bush stood in the library of the White House and soberly said he had pursued a flawed strategy and acknowledged for the first time that he had not sent enough troops to provide security for Iraqi civilians." The London Times has two articles with headlines damning Bush's plans: Bush goes for bust with an extra 22,000 troops, and History will not forgive a failure to match words with deeds.

I think everyone recognizes that the "plan" (yes, Mr. Bush can call it a plan rather than a statement of absolutely self-serving BS substituting words for action) depends on Iraqi support. If you do not, then read the Corn article noted above. If you think that al-Maliki will help us, then take a look at this London Times article.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, is not quite the well-meaning but ineffective figure portrayed in Bush’s plan. He has done at least seven things in the past six months which show that he plans to help Shias to secure control of every part of government and has no notion of sharing power with Sunnis.

Meanwhile, the Sunnis think that Bush's plan mean he is supporting the Shia.

Does Bush's plan even seem to acknowledge the realities of Iraq? Not from where I am sitting. The rest of the world - including our enemies - are probably not taking as much delight in the Democrats winning control of Congress as in our president clarifying his personal stupidity on television. I must admit that the best critique of what has gone wrong in Iraq is from George Will. Our failing in Iraq is not a military failure but a political failure.