Thursday, July 12, 2007

Help, Please   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

For weeks now whenever I talk to Senate staff, within minutes, if even seconds, I notice the dread: What are we going to do about Iraq? And how is the White House going to help us with the opposition right here in the Senate? We want to give it a chance, but it's not like the winds are blowing in our favor, in terms of public opinion, in terms of statesmen-like willingness across the aisle, in terms of getting a ton of leadership help from the White House.

This morning one Senate staffer involved in both big fights recently (immigration, war) expressed his alarm: "The White House is not engaging even 1/2 as much as they did on immigration and they are in a hole now, with little capital left to spend."

Not to be sore about that immigration fight, but it's hard not to be sometimes. War is hell and war deserves everything you've got left in you. So onward and upward, but let's rally for the fight.

A few minutes ago, Bill Kristol expressed a similar sentiment (stressing the moving forward part), while on Laura Ingraham's show, wishing Cabinet secretaries would engage in the fight for victory. He encouraged the president to embrace hawkishness, predicting it could not only rally folks toward being victory-minded but could also have the added benefit of being a real "shot in the arm" for the Bush administration.

07/12 09:58 AMShare