The Petraeus Effect

4:56 am EST September 18th, 2007 | News | 1 Comment

One of the sillier arguments made about the MoveOn ad using Petraeus from last week by the right was that it was a symptom of liberal “fear” that Petraeus’ medals would memorize Americans, cause them to forget who is ultimately responsible for the war and the mess the conflict has caused. Like most conservative “ideas”, it was wrong.

Most Americans continue to want troops to start coming home from Iraq, and most say the plan President Bush announced last week for troop reductions doesn’t go far enough, according to a CBS News poll released Monday.

While the president spoke of a long-term commitment to Iraq in his nationally televised address, a time frame longer than two years is not acceptable to most Americans. Still, most of those polled expect large numbers of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for many years to come.

Sixty-eight percent of Americans say that U.S. troop levels in Iraq should either be reduced or that all troops should be removed – similar numbers to those before Mr. Bush’s speech.

We’re at a point where the only thing that matters about Bush and Iraq is if he decides to change from being Johnny One-Note for 4+ years. We’ve pursued the same failing strategy and America notices. It’s things like that that cause the Democratic response to outdraw the Bush speech. For the remainder of his presidency, America will likely continue to tune out the Bushes. And it’s better that way.