President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as "stay the course." A complete distortion, they say. "That is not a stay-the-course policy," White House press secretary Tony Snow declared yesterday.
Where would anyone have gotten that idea? Well, maybe from Bush.
"We will stay the course. We will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed," he said in Salt Lake City in August.
"We will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course," he said in Milwaukee in July.
"I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed," he said after returning from Baghdad in June.
But the White House is cutting and running from "stay the course." A phrase meant to connote steely resolve instead has become a symbol for being out of touch and rigid in the face of a war that seems to grow worse by the week, Republican strategists say. Democrats have now turned "stay the course" into an attack line in campaign commercials, and the Bush team is busy explaining that "stay the course" does not actually mean stay the course.
Instead, they have been emphasizing in recent weeks how adaptable the president's Iraq policy actually is. Bush remains steadfast about remaining in Iraq, they say, but constantly shifts tactics and methods in response to an adjusting enemy. "What you have is not 'stay the course' but in fact a study in constant motion by the administration," Snow said yesterday.
You've got to love this political spin here. For almost four years, we've constantly heard from the Bush administration how we must "stay the course" in Iraq. We can't leave Iraq--can't pull out! When Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down. There have been so many different variations on the theme, but the overall message from the Bush White House has been the same--the United States will no adapt its war strategy in Iraq, or pull any troops out of Iraq. Stay the course has literally meant having the U.S. walk straight off a cliff.
Well, guess what? The Bush administration's war strategy in Iraq is not working. We've seen the NIE estimates which are clearly showing that the U.S. is losing the war in Iraq. We've seen the reconstruction blunders in Iraq. We've seen Republican cronyism when sending staff over to help rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. And finally, even the Iraqis want the U.S. to leave. But all of this is ignored by the Bush administration--we need to stay the course.
But "stay the course" has become a problem for the Bush administration. The Democrats have been using the phrase as a means to attack a static, stubborn, and losing strategy that the Bush administration adheres to. So now the Bush White House marketing staff is adapting the message--stay the course doesn't literally mean stay the course. It really means something like we'll shift our course and tactics to adjust to a shifting enemy's course and tactics. In other words, the Bush administration is trying to explain in this new series of marketing spin that they have always been willing to change the course of U.S. policy in Iraq on a tactical level while refusing to adapt the U.S. policy in Iraq on a strategic level. That is a huge difference here. The Democrats have been attacking the Bush administration's Iraq policy on a strategic level--what is our mission in Iraq? What are the criteria for success in our mission? How long will it take to complete our mission? What is the criteria for failing in this mission, and if we do fail in Iraq, then what are our options? Now look at Tony Snow's quote from yesterday: "What you have is not 'stay the course' but in fact a study in constant motion by the administration." A study in constant motion by the administration. Snow does not say that the Bush administration is not re-examining its entire Iraq policy, nor does Snow say that Bush administration is changing its course on a strategic level. What we are seeing is a Bush White House marketing spin on how the administration is "changing the course" through a tactical level, while ignoring the overall strategic problems of its Iraq policy. Look at this New York Times story where the top American general in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., is calling for an increase in American troop levels in Iraq. However Casey is also saying that no major tactical or strategic shifts will take place in Iraq--at least not until after the elections. So in effect, the Bush administration is still staying the course here.
We should understand what this tactic really is--just another crass Bush White House marketing tactic to deflect strong Democratic attacks against their Iraqi policy. But I will also say that I certainly find it interesting that they are making this marketing change just two weeks before the elections. The poll numbers are really showing America's shift against the war in Iraq. According to ABC News:
opposition to the war remains the prime issue driving congressional voter preference. And the war's critics include not just eight in 10 Democrats but 64 percent of independents, 40 percent of conservatives, 35 percent of evangelical white Protestants and a quarter of Republicans.
It matters: Among the four in 10 registered voters who favor the war in Iraq, 73 percent support the Republicans in their congressional districts. But many more, nearly six in 10, oppose the war, and 78 percent favor Democrats for the House.
That spells a continued, dramatic Democratic lead: Fifty-four percent of registered voters in this ABC News/Washington Post poll prefer the Democrats in their districts, 41 percent the Republicans. This is the highest level of Democratic preference we've seen in ABC/Post surveys this close to Election Day since 1984.
Among likely voters, the race is a nearly identical 55-41 percent.
The Bush administration's marketing strategy for "stay the course" has failed. It is time to change the course of Bush White House marketing strategy now. And as the Bush marketing strategy changes course, their static course in Iraq continues to fail them. According to U.S. News and World Report:
America's 43rd month in Iraq is turning out to be one of the deadlier ones yet for its men and women in uniform. Flag-draped coffins are quietly being sent home almost every day. October has been particularly brutal, with U.S. forces squeezed between a stubborn Sunni insurgency, volatile Shiite militias, and surging sectarian strife.
The numbers have been piling up-fast. More than 2,780 Americans have been killed in Iraq-and over 9,500 have been seriously injured. The small town of Salem, N.H., is among those mourning one of the 73 soldiers killed so far this month-Army Cpl. Nicholas Arvanitis. The 22-year-old paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division was fatally shot while on patrol in a city north of Baghdad.
I guess even when the Bush administration claims they are adapting their course in response to an adjusting enemy, they are still failing.
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