Slate’s John Dickerson writes:
The news from Iraq is largely bad. The public is smart enough to distrust the nightly news producers. They’re also smart enough to know when they’re not getting straight talk. A little candor might break through that skepticism. Bush and (Senator John) McCain are both desperate to convince Americans that the war is still worth fighting and that the penalties for wavering are indeed severe. It’s just that McCain is the only one who will admit “[t]here is an undeniable sense that things are slipping in Iraq.”
Today the president fought back against Democrats who charge he distorted prewar intelligence. “It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began,” he scolded his critics. It’s the start of a concerted campaign by the president and his aides to call out Democrats who voted for the war but now seek to benefit politically from its unpopularity. This partisan fight also offers a chance to talk about those broader goals that led to the war. But Bush starts at a disadvantage. Fifty-seven percent of the country says he “deliberately misled” the nation about the case for war in Iraq. Maybe he can change those numbers by merely pointing at the other party.
But the president is fighting an old battle—prewar intelligence—rather than the current one—Iraq’s decay. He has got to face the present, and if he wants to make his case persuasive, he’s going to have to point the finger at himself, too.
He nails it. Even for someone who has supported the war such as yours truly, Bush’s response (which GOP partisans love because he’s going after Democrats) throws down more red flags than it raises assurances. It’s not acknowledging in substantive terms (or any terms really) the reasons why he’s losing big chunks of support, particularly from America’s political center (which Tuesday’s elections show does exist).
This administration’s fatal flaw is its inability to genuinely admit a mistake, cut its losses, restate the challenge at hand, then offer specific solutions and call on ALL Americans to join with it — genuinely trying to bring them on board by creating a coalition. The style is to focus on part of the problem then go after those who oppose it to neutralize them.
Bush would have gained MUCH more support from those polls show he has lost or is losing if he had taken THIS attitude:
“This is Veterans’ Day, a day of national unity as we honor our veterans. And on this day, more than ever we’re one nation. I know we’re all adults. These were the broad goals of the war in Iraq. These were the short range goals of the war. Here’s how it has turned out and here’s what we did wrong.
“Here’s how we can prevent that from happening again. But now we’re in Iraq and we have all these brave young men and women over there. Here’s specifically what we need to do and what our goals need to be. So on Veterans’ Day I’m calling on all Americans of all persuasions to join with me in trying to correct the mistakes. And I’ll be meeting in my office with lawmakers of both parties to discuss where we are now, what we need to do next, and why. We may not all agree in the end but we’re all patriotic Americans and we can overcome our challenges together.”
Instead, the strategy is again mobilization of his base and defining opponents in a way suggesting they’re unpatriotic by asking questions about policy that was clearly flawed in its inception, in its execution and now seems to be lacking a specific and clear-cut end-game strategy.
The questions will likely continue from liberal Democrats, many in the center and — if things don’t improve — even some Republicans who may call for more force in Iraq to bring the war to an end.
PS: The argument about undermining the war was also used by LBJ during Vietnam — and it didn’t help the war effort or LBJ one iota. It converted no-one to his side. NOT a smart strategy but it will be cheered by people who already politically support the President, not just because of the war issue but because they SUPPORT HIM already and want to see him on the ascent.
People who’ve backed the war but aren’t GOP partisans will be less impressed with this Veterans’ Day speech and will view it as a squandered opportunity to try to foster national unity amid growing division over the war. And, we suspect, in coming years most non-GOP news analysts and historians will, too.