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War talk

George Bush finally talks to America about Iraq.

Date published: 12/2/2005

War talk

THE LIFE AND LIBERTY of every living American, and millions yet unborn, are bound up with the success of the war in Iraq. That war once may have been optional; winning it isn't. Its anti-insurgent phase may have gone badly; the execution must improve. The war's author, George W. Bush, may in many ways be a poor leader and is, to some, a villainous public figure; an opposition that would ruin him at the cost of the nation is infinitely worse.

Mr. Bush--at long, long last--is correcting one of his key leadership deficiencies, the omission of the American people from a respectful conversation about the war. His address Wednesday at the Naval Academy focused on the training of Iraqi troops and police; more presidential speeches, about other aspects of the conflict, are set. Yes, Mr. Bush's assessment of the Iraqi military and constabulary were overly optimistic, and Americans may rightly wish that he had said more about the long, hard slog ahead to Iraq's effective self-defense from its homegrown and foreign enemies. But even propaganda of the customary wartime variety is preferable to what Mr. Bush has heretofore served up regarding Iraq: a democratically disdainful mix of silence and platitude.

Platitudes are enough for some Americans--the sequacious, the ideological, the fiercely partisan. But over time these citizens do not constitute a majority, and in the American system majorities ultimately make, or unmake, policy. A Gallup poll published the day of Mr. Bush's speech found that Americans by a 54-44 margin disliked the president's handling of the war, and, 55-41, believed he had no plan to win it. Is it any wonder that most citizens have scant confidence in Mr. Bush as commander in chief? Richard Nixon had a "secret plan to end the [Vietnam] war" when he ran for president; George W. Bush--surely the oddest presidential personality since Nixon--has seemed to be keeping his war plan for Iraq secret while governing .

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Date published: 12/2/2005