Presidential Wisdom

The war in Iraq-- 4.5 years and growing!-- is a very complicated issue. With much of Iraq in chaos and the conflict threatening to extend elsewhere (into Iran from us, into the Kurdish region from Turkey), it's important our leaders take a sober, honest look at where we are. Unfortunately, we have instead a guy who said this at a press conference yesterday-

"I don’t — you know quagmire is an interesting word. If you lived in Iraq and had lived under a tyranny, you’d be saying: God, I love freedom, because that’s what’s happened.

And there are killers and radicals and murderers who kill the innocent to stop the advance of freedom. But freedom’s happening in Iraq. And we’re making progress."

Yes, I'm sure that Iraqis are running around every day saying 'Save me from this nightmare!' 'God, I love freedom!'

Speaking of the eternal progress-making goalposts that keep moving (this is from May)-



The day after his midterm election thumpin', the President was temporarily unsettled enough to acknowledge basic reality. Asked by a British journalist if he was in denial about Iraq, he responded "It's bad in Iraq. Does that help?" No, not really, sir. In the year since then, perhaps assuaged by his victory over Democrats on the issue, the President has retreated back into his bubble. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

Certainly I'm not naive enough to expect ol' Bushie to come out and say "You're right, we need to stop digging in our heels. Let's work out a timetable and start getting out," but is it too much to ask that he respond to questions about Iraq without a childish grin on his face? Nevermind, I know the answer.

Meanwhile, he finally issues a direct statement to President Musharraf-

"You need to take off your uniform. You can't be President and head of the military at the same time."

You tell 'em! The last thing a democracy wants is the military entangled with the political.

And with economic jitters growing, the President has Roosevelt-esque words of comfort-

"The economy is in pretty good shape, and we've got some issues, but the economy is pretty strong, which -- and the other side does want to raise taxes."

How blessed we are to have such a leader. I don't know why more people don't see that.