The winds of change are blowing. The president is willing to consider considering alternatives to his stay-the-course-in-Iraq mantra. Naturally, the phrase stay the course has been banned from the Rove playbook because the American public now know it works in Iraq as well as it does for lemmings approaching a scenic view high above a rocky ocean shore. But this flawed strategy, by any other name, would bleed as much, and stay the course remains the unimaginative and failing centerpiece of this administration's Iraq policy.
How do we know the president is actually considering a change in his disastrous Iraq War policy? Tony Snow, the administration's chief sock puppet, has branded such reports as "hooey" (from "naughty e-mails" to "hooey" Mr. Snow is clearly trying to bring a civil tone to obfuscation). When Mr. Snow says no, I tend to think yes. Even so, I don't think the President is interested in alternatives.
The Baker/Hamilton Iraq Study Group will not offer options until after the election. The aroma arising from this fact reminds me of a familiar fragrance from long ago. Candidate Richard Nixon, very late in the 1968 presidential campaign, let it be known that he had a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam.
No details were offered and the Nixon campaign allegedly got word to the North Vietnamese that it would be worth their while to spurn Lyndon Johnson's overtures for peace and cut a better deal once Nixon was elected.
During the Nixon Presidency 15,576 Americans died in Vietnam; nearly 27% of the more than 58,000 American Vietnam war deaths.
The Nixon plan was called Vietnamization. Essentially, as the South Vietnamese Army stood up, American troops would stand down. Sound familiar? Mr. Nixon also added increased bombing into the mix and expanded the war into Cambodia.
For this administration to be hinting about a secret plan, or a willingness to consider unspecified other options after the election is just a ploy to convince voters to stay the course and keep the Republicans in power.
Three years and five months after the start of this unnecessary war the administration wants credit for suggesting they may finally start to plan an exit strategy sometime after the election.
Unless the Democrats take control of congress and perform their constitutionally mandated oversight role to keep this President in check, our country will stay on the foolishly reckless course it has been on for six years.