Yesterday, after a flurry of unexpected announcements from Republican senators about their dissatisfaction with the president’s war policy, there were several reports about the White House scrambling to change course. In reality, the president’s team, reportedly in the midst of heated debate, is desperate to figure out a way to rally support for the status quo.
According to a front-page WaPo report, the new strategy is … to beg for more time (again).
President Bush, facing a growing Republican revolt against his Iraq policy, has rejected calls to change course but will launch a campaign emphasizing his intent to draw down U.S. forces next year and move toward a more limited mission if security conditions improve, senior officials said yesterday.
Top administration officials have begun talking with key Senate Republicans to walk them through his view of the next phase in the war, beyond the troop increase he announced six months ago today. Bush plans to lay out what an aide called “his vision for the post-surge” starting in Cleveland today to assure the nation that he, too, wants to begin bringing troops home eventually.
This is the “new” campaign in a nutshell: if the nation gives Bush more time, and the same policy that’s been failing miraculously starts working, then the president will consider some degree of troop withdrawal. That’s it.
In other words, there’s no news here at all. The Bush gang are hard at work trying to shape a new sales pitch, not a new policy. They’re hoping to slap a fresh coat of paint on a car that’s already on fire.
“What the president has said all along is, of course, we’re going to draw down,” Tony Snow said. “But you have to draw down when it makes sense to do so.” So, troops can come home, just as soon as the administration’s policy stops failing so dramatically.
The new policy is exactly the same as the old one. The difference is that the president will now start expressing his “frustration.”
I feel better already.
Bush intends to argue that Congress and the public should look past this week’s scheduled status report on Iraq and wait for the fuller assessment due in September.
And why is that? Because this week’s scheduled status report will show that Iraq “has not met any of its targets for political, economic and other reforms.” Not one.
After Bush’s speech in Cleveland today, we’re likely to hear some talk about a “new” strategy, or a “new” policy. Don’t believe it.
On a related note, six months ago today, Bush unveiled his “surge” policy, with plenty of promises about progress and accountability. Atrios has a collection of quotes from all kinds of “serious” far-right commentators, all of whom told national television audiences that this was Bush’s “last chance.”
They were all wrong, but one has to assume they’ll all be repeating the exact same nonsense this afternoon.