More information has been divulged about President Bush’s address tonight: He will not “declare victory” but will instead tell the nation that the “heavy combat” has ended and the rebuilding of Iraq has begun.
Duh. Is this supposed to be news?
In other words, he will be making a purely political broadcast to try to increase his inexplicable popularity, and doing it with a crowd-pleasing stunt: landing on an aircraft carrier in transit, bring troops home. Where Clinton was a masterful speaker, holding his audience rapt, Bush is a dim-witted frat boy, being cast in a popular patriotic tableau by a cadre of stage managers. Unfortunately, no matter what the backdrop or the patriotic hype surrounding his appearances, he always manages to appear as a rabbit caught in the headlights. They’d better work on that – he’s back on the fundraising trail, enabling more “inclusive” conservatives to buy our government.
Lucky for him that they don’t let him go out in public or answer questions.
Some notes from Howard Kurtz in the Post:
The early buzz was that Bush would declare the war over, but that must have been before the lawyers got involved:
“President Bush will tell the nation tonight that Iraq has been liberated, but he won’t say the war is over, aides say. Under international law, a declaration of victory would require release of Iraqi prisoners of war and bar U.S. forces from trying to kill Saddam Hussein – if he’s not already dead,” reports USA Today.
“The White House has asked TV networks to carry Bush’s remarks at 9 p.m. ET. He’ll speak from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln as it heads toward San Diego.”
Not too staged, right?
The New York Post’s Deborah Orin sees tonight’s event shrinking the Democrats’ chances:
“When President Bush speaks to the nation tonight from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln after making a tailhook landing in a Navy warplane, he’ll underscore the problem facing Democrats who yearn to replace him: a giant stature gap. . . .
“Just about the last thing that Democrats need is a chance to squabble over which of them is LEAST qualified to be commander-in-chief. Particularly when it’s contrasted against tonight’s triumphant images of the victorious commander-in-chief with happy troops on board an aircraft carrier – footage that, Dems sadly agree, seems made-to-order for a 2004 campaign ad.”
