Bush's New Strategy: Delay Decision

It's never about doing what's right. It's about politics and control of the image. Here's CNN with the story on the delay:

President Bush on Tuesday put off until early next month announcing a new approach to the Iraq war, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush should take whatever time necessary to decide his next steps.

The White House initially indicated that Bush might deliver the speech before Christmas.

While administration officials said Bush had largely decided on where he wants to go in terms of a new policy, he gave no public hint of his plan at a meeting with the country's Sunni vice president.

The problems in Iraq have been obvious for more than three years. For three years, we've needed a policy shift. Bush's bold new decisive plan... ....is to delay a decision until January. Think Progress has the story from CNN's John King:

King said the White House has postponed the announcement of the policy shift to January because Bush “has asked for more advice about” how he could send 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, and administration officials “need more time to put all that on the table.”

King said the White House sees a political benefit to delaying the announcement. “If you are going to disagree with the Iraq Study Group and not accept its major recommendations, then let some time go by, let the American people forget about that a little bit” and “buy some time for critics” to attack the ISG.

Bush's presidency is crumbling and our foreign policy is in disarray. Even George W. Bush's public relations gambits are failing if he thinks Americans will soon forget the failures of his Iraq policy and the stark F given to him by the Iraq Study Group. Sometime this month or in January, it is probable that more than 3,000 of our soldiers will have died in Iraq. In the meantime, one cannot escape the conclusion that the president is waiting for the best photo op to try once again to sell his reckless incompetence. If the bottom line is that Bush's new policy is to send another 20,000 troops, that is no different than other occassions when he has sent more troops. Bush needs to come to terms with his failed policies and make major changes.