It wasn’t long ago — indeed, it was just four days ago — when the Bush campaign was practically giddy over John Kerry’s decision to focus the campaign onto the war in Iraq.
White House communications director Dan Bartlett said that when the public compares Bush and Kerry on Iraq, they consistently put their faith in the president. As such, Bartlett said, the White House welcomes any attacks Kerry plans to launch. “We believe each day that we’re debating the war and debating Iraq, it’s an advantage to us,” he said.
Suddenly, however, they’re not quite as confident about that “advantage.”
Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, insists that the administration is still confident of its strategy to transform Iraq. In an interview last week, she insisted that Mr. Bush had a winning plan for Iraq and said that “the terrorists have nothing to offer the Iraqis.”
While Ms. Rice stands by the assessment, the president’s political team is no longer so sure how the argument will play out. The campaign leadership was shaken by recent assertions by three senior Republican senators — Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and John McCain of Arizona — suggesting that the United States is facing deep trouble in Iraq, and that the White House may be in denial about the need for a new approach.
“They are clearly worried that this could take a nasty turn,” said one senior Republican strategist who joined a conference call on Monday about how to respond to Mr. Kerry’s counterattacks. “The headlines are getting to them.”
If the Bush campaign is “clearly worried,” then the rest of us should be “clearly encouraged.” Could this be the beginning of a momentum shift?