It'
s not unusual for even great leaders to go catatonic at critical
times. Who knows what might have happened had Lincoln made public
appearances after his election in 1860, and tried to assure Southerners
that the world was not going to end because he was President.
Instead, he simply disappeared, from November through March, when he
sneaked into Washington for his Inauguration. It was too
late. Gen. MacArthur similarly went into a months long shell
after being rescued by submarine from the Philippines. Both
snapped back, and their legacies as great leaders are chiseled in
rock. Maybe President Bush will do the same?
 Here [Have We Lost in Iraq?] `Jed Babbin writes what many of us feel ..
''Failure in Iraq is
within our grasp, but success now seems out of reach. It lies ahead,
somewhere, in a fog of war, religion, and ideology. The visions of
success created by a hugely successful military campaign and the
apparent birth of democracy -- three elections, millions of Iraqis
risking all to stain their thumbs purple -- were a mirage. The mirage
of success wasn't reality because we -- meaning the president -- never
defined success. He never spoke plainly to us about the ugliness of
reality, which precludes success in Iraq unless and until the defeat of
its terrorist-sponsoring neighbors occurred. ''
Babbin writes that ''the persistent intervention of Iraq's neighbors who want anything but democracy on their borders,'' is manifest in the current attempt to drive that nation to civil war. He might also have mentioned that ''the
persistent intervention of Democrats who want anything but a Bush
success'' have played an important, and dividing role.
''Is the President so oblivious to events that he doesn't understand that he has set
Americans adrift in an ocean of hostile media, leaving the formation of
public opinion to the New York Times, CBS, the BBC and Alec Baldwin? ''
Bush had better begin emulating FDR more, and LBJ less. This deal
so closely follows the leftist Vietnam script, that the only thing left
is a campus massacre by National Guardsmen (I have suggestions).
If I'm the President, I address the nation, and make it
clear that, while Iraqi democracy might be a nice thing, it's not
critical to our success. ''If we must, we'll turn the entire Middle
East into one huge Exxon station." Or something. But get
mad, and get mad in public. Be firm and be firm in public.
Define the mission, including Iran and Syria, and do it in
public. We'll know he's succeeded when Alec Baldwin goes into
hiding from the lynch mobs.
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