Hoping Bush decides wisely on the course herein out in Iraq, one fact stands out as essential: he must rally the nation for the effort. Unlike BT's libel on the American electorate, the problem is not our lack of couage but Bush's lack of wisdom. It is a problem of leadership, not followership. Among the measures, aside from the rhetorical, would be to specify and require, to the extent it can be done, sacrifices which will promote the effort unquestionably. A war tax on the top earners and wealth-possessors is but one suggestion among many.
Domer,
My agreement with you suggestions would only be the beginning if I had the "president's" ear. Repealing all the tax cuts would be an imperative with all the restored revenue used solely for the deficit and Social Security. The threat of terrorism is in a distant second to the threat our debt poses.
When you posed your question to the conservatives and Bush supporters on their views, none heeded the call. It seems they are lost in Bush's, pardon my crudity, bullshit. For nearly four years, it has sufficed to hear Bush's platitudes and simplistic rhetoric to keep their minds off the reality. Now the reality is on the front page and the normal stopgaps of blaming the media and the dissentors are failing. The sight of rats jumping from the ship has them palpitating. And broad rhetoric about forthcoming plans and "victory" do not address car bombs killing 30, 40, 50 at a time nor do they accomplish any of the goals that they have accepted as each new one was handed down.
My given nature is to swing to hyperbole but believe me when I say that it is my firm belief that we are seeing Bush entering his own version of LBJ's and Nixon's periods of delusion, paranoia, desperation. I envision Bush muttering to himself and having soliquies in front of paintings of former holders of the office of POTUS. In a discussion about the situation with my wife, I even went so far as to postulate Bush in Oswald's shoes as he made his way to the Texas Theatre perhaps coming to the realization that something has gone wrong and he, in fact, is realizing that he was been made to be the patsy and seeing walls closing in on him.
His true believers see this or at the very least sense it in some undefined deja vu effect and are only responding with what has worked before. Their old song and dance falls flat. Their total control is gone and their dross is not spun by every talking head and all they can do is dance as fast as they can and hope to get offstage before the tomatoes start flying.
