I really want to see the President’s surge strategy accomplish in Iraq what every other effort has not.

I really want to believe my former-Marine nephew, and his friends who are still in the Armed Services, when they say we need to be there and be there in force.

I really want to.

But it’s difficult to do so when I read AP reports like this one, wherein the President …

(a) demands that his opponents in Congress either support his plan or “put up their own plan as to what would work,” when they seemingly have offered plans, only to be dmissed, as Bush reverts to claiming the mantle of “The Decider” (now, simply, the less poetic “Decision-Maker”)

(b) says he is “confident that the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program (can) be resolved diplomatically,” after he rejected the ISG’s calls for diplomacy with Iran and Syria, and after we learned that his Administration may have missed an opportunity to capitalize on Syria’s prior willingness to talk with Israel.

I voted for him twice. While I haven’t always agreed with him, I’ve supported him nonetheless, and held my tongue. But my patience is wearing thin. And I’m not alone among those who are clinging to fraying hopes he’s right, this time around.