Bush's Speech Full of Reality-Based Desperation

By David Corn, TheNation.com. Posted January 11, 2007.

The president acknowledged that Iraq isn't the model of democracy and progress he's spent the past few years claiming it was, but his arrogance is leading his decision to escalate the occupation.

George W. Bush finally has dipped his toe into the reality-based pool.

Standing in the White House library -- because his PR guides wanted him to seem "conservational" -- the president delivered a long-in-the-hyping speech on Iraq on Wednesday night, and he conceded what the American people have already figured out: his war is not faring well. Shortly before the November elections, Bush declared, "we're winning" in Iraq. With public opinion polls showing that close to three-quarters of the nation disapprove of his handling of the war, Bush wanted to demonstrate that he, too, is aware that Iraq is a mess. So he said, "The situation in Iraq is... unacceptable to me. ... Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me." But here's the obvious question: given the president's history of false and misleading statements about the war and his record of poor decision-making related to the war, why should anyone accept anything he says or proposes now? He has no credibility -- and far too long of a resume of failure.