The best strategy for the president is to hold firm. There is every reason to believe that he can survive the current calamity-Janes of the Republican party (does anyone really imagine that a veto-proof majority will form in the Senate this week or next?). This nonsense will pass, Congress will go on recess, and Petraeus will have a chance to continue to produce results--and the president and his allies will have a chance to gain political ground here at home. Why on earth pull the plug now?
Why give in to an insane, irrational panic that will destroy the Bush administration and most likely sweep the Republican party to ruin? The president still has a chance to emerge from this as a visionary who could see what the left could not--but not if he gives in to them. There is no safety in the position some in the Bush administration are running towards.
Here's what I gather is a basic lesson of tactics: When you find yourself in an ambush, attack into the ambush. Don't twist and turn in the kill zone, looking for a way to retreat. Especially when the ambush is not a powerful one, and the Democrats' position (to mix military metaphors) is way overextended.
- Plus, I neglected to mention the first tomato of summer came in yesterday.
- And Mr. Wheat strongly objects to my post on the mood in 2000 because I didn't tell the whole tale. He points out that millions of Catholics stormed heaven with "Lepanto" rosaries between election night and early December, 2000. And the FL election was sealed December 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and Bush v. Gore was handed down December 12, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. So...who's up for another Lepanto crusade between now & September, folks? (In the Weed household we've already been praying it nightly, together with the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel for victory).
