Two Yards and a Cloud of Dust!

Desperate to turn the tide of public opinion before the November elections, and seemingly bitter about frequent criticism of his war in Iraq, George Bush has started to attack the Democrats with increasing Rovian venom. During a fundraising appearance for threatened Missouri incumbent, James Talent, he had this to say:

There's a group in the opposition party who are willing to retreat before the mission is done. They're willing to wave the white flag of surrender. And if they succeed, the United States will be worse off, and the world will be worse off.

In light of the continually declining situation in Iraq, Bush’s words seem much like the football coach who runs the same unsuccessful plays over and over and over, always insisting that victory is just around the corner if the team sticks to the gameplan. But when criticism begins to mount, and fans call for a change in strategy, he lashes out at them – blaming the team’s failure on a lack of support, rather than a stubborn inability to adapt and lead.

Clearly, according to anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the shape of a football (or of a peaceful Iraq), Bush is a “coach” with a losing gameplan. In a recent study, Foreign Policy Magazine and the Center for American Progress teamed up to survey more than 100 of America’s top foreign-policy experts—Republicans and Democrats alike. The result was not pretty.

Despite today’s highly politicized national security environment, the index results show striking consensus across political party lines. A bipartisan majority (84 percent) of the index’s experts say the United States is not winning the war on terror. Eighty-six percent of the index’s experts see a world today that is growing more dangerous for Americans.

At this point, Bush can do all the whining and name calling he likes! If he keeps running the ball into the line of scrimmage without a willingness to consider adjusting his strategy, he will continue to lose support as the November elections approach. No matter how much a coach blames his critics for the persistent failure of his gameplan, it’s the fans who can get the coach (and his entire staff) fired . . . and not the other way around!