I may have more to say later about Arizona Senator John McCain’s speech today at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) on the Iraq war.
I think he got the big points right. In a blogger conference call after the speech, James Joyner (via Instapundit) reported that if he were president, McCain said he would:
go on C-SPAN regularly and give specifics about our progress and work to change public opinion.
In follow-up, I noted that he’s not president and that the guy who currently holds the post has not shown much aptitude for either specifics or public speaking. McCain responded that Bush is decent in the right setting and that he should probably hold a lot of small, informal meetings with reporters where he has a map and points out various spots on the map where we’re having success.
I think McCain got this right, that the president has not done a good enough job of promoting his policies, particularly about the war to the American people. I think a lot more people would support his efforts if he more regularly made clear why we’re in Iraq and better articulated our goals in the region. Unlike both of his two-term predecessors, George W. Bush seems reluctant to use the bully pulpit to advance his agenda — and show how it serves our national interest.
And I also want to address the points Senator McCain has been making for several years about changing the strategy in Iraq to one similar to that currently in place.
I truly believe that he felt his first job was to get the project completed and assumed America would be steadfast enough to go along with it. With the amount of resources and lives involved that was a pretty self-absorbed outlook to have. More inclusion was needed for everyone.
The biggest problem is that I doubt Bush believed the Dems would be this treacherous towards their own nation for animal spite and that is the issue many of us are still reeling from and not understanding.
My only concern about the Dem victory in November was who this victory would put in charge. The Reps deserved humiliation but not at the hands of socialist whores.
President Bush has failed at explaining his actions to the American people. Yes, MSM probably would have distorted what he has to say, but not saying it at al has been disastreous.
mccain is about as lame-duck as bush. time to find a new candidate; the iraq war anchor will sink mccain.