Rest Assured, Nervous Americans
Phew!
White House officials acknowledged yesterday that the public's gloomy mood about the Iraq war is forcing President Bush to take a more assertive and public role to reassure nervous Americans and Republican lawmakers about the White House plan for victory.
Bush had hoped the successful January elections in Iraq would boost the popularity of the conflict and allow him to distance himself from it. But his aides have concluded that recent events in Iraq have contributed to an erosion in support for the president — and that he needs to shift strategies. Bush's new approach will be mostly rhetorical, however, as the White House does not plan any changes to the policy or time frame for bringing home the 140,000 U.S. troops, as some lawmakers are demanding.
"The president takes seriously his responsibility as commander in chief to continue to educate the American people about the conduct of the war and our strategy for victory," said Dan Bartlett, a senior adviser.
[Jim VandeHei, "Bush Is Expected to Address Specifics on Iraq", The Washington Post, 16 June 2005.]
I was worried there for a minute that the President was actually thinking of doing something different in Iraq, but it turns out that he's just going to talk about it more. I presume, of couse, in light of the Downing Street Memo and such things, that "to reassure nervous Americans" means to tell them more things that aren't true. (We don't say "lie": it's so shrill and anti-war.)
Can we expect the same approach, using multi-city tours with "town-hall meetings", that was such a success with reassuring Americans about social security and "private accounts"?
If so, this move might be a good thing and help end the war sooner rather than later.