A Light in the Fog

Fire of Liberty

Here's a great piece by Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard on how things are going far better in Iraq from the perspective of the folks on the ground in Iraq but when the information on such progress comes state-side we have various Senators, Pentagon spokesmen as well as the White House finding it difficult to formulate a clearly defined narrative. Barnes notes that even when the President and his surrogates seem to get the message out on the progress in Iraq to the American public, they seem to have to battle the various Democratic Senators and Representatives who go before the carousel of news shows and continue to insist to the viewer and the host that the President doesn't have a plan on Iraq. You'd think that these folks would eventually turn on their fog lights while traversing in the boggy marshes of D.C. and realize that the President has been presenting his plan/policy on Iraq ad nauseam since day one. Thankfully, Fred Barnes has decided to turn on a gigantic shining beacon on for these lost souls by pointing out President Bush's plan in the following passage:

The administration indeed has a plan: Weaken the Sunni insurgents and turn the job of defeating them over to Iraqis; isolate the Islamic jihadists and let American Special Forces commandos deal with them; and, finally, woo Sunnis to the new government through the appeal of democracy. It's a simple plan, and at the moment it's working.

I'd say that the best way to communicate such a message to the American people is for the President to stay on message by steadily repeating the markers of success he has established in determing how things are progressing in Iraq. No matter how much the folks in the opposition try to batter the President with Katrina or domestic decisions, the President should ensure that the message on Iraq is communicated as well as the one that was broadcasted world-wide after September 11th and during the 2004 election. I know the Prez has it in him, let's see if the magic returns. After hearing his latest speech before the National Endowment for Democracy, I'd say he's finally recharged his batteries and is ready to drive out of the fog of D.C. so he can get the message out to the hinterland and the folks that count.