March 23 (Bloomberg) -- ``I'm optimistic we'll succeed. If not, I'd pull our troops out,'' the president said at a White House press conference Tuesday.
George W. Bush can tangle the syntax of even the shortest sentence. Does he mean we'll stay in Iraq so long as he remains an optimist? Does a prolonged war depend on Bush being upbeat?
Optimism generally serves the president well. Voters don't like Oval Office sourpusses. But as Bush marks the third anniversary of the war with a week of speeches, optimism is his enemy.
Supposedly a series of addresses to show he understands the setbacks and aches over the carnage, Bush's effort so far has been just more of the same. With no change of strategy to announce, the president is left largely to fight a war of words. In that battle, for every hint he drops that he is in touch with reality, there's an equal and opposite reminder that he isn't. ...
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