The Cure For Iraq Fatigue

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John Kerry has been reticent about Iraq. He mentioned it only in passing last week. But those who say he needs to propose his own "solution" to the problem, or join those Democrats who are simplistically calling for a quick withdrawal, are off the mark. He has proposed a solution--greater reliance on the U.N.--and the Bush Administration is busy adopting it. What he hasn't done is make an emotional connection with the public. He seems incapable of providing comfort or reassurance, or even of speaking in a nonhortatory tone of voice. Worse, by steering clear of Iraq he seems to be making a political calculation about a profound moral issue (stay silent while Bush is hanging himself ). A basic rule for Kerry should be: Anything that makes him seem like a politician is bad, no matter how efficacious; anything that makes him seem like a statesman is good, no matter how risky.

The President has a far more difficult problem, and quite the opposite of Kerry's. He got us into this mess. He has continually explained the war in platitudes. His imprecise idealism is not only inappropriate now, but has become downright annoying. His five-point plan is built on the quicksand of Ambassador L. Paul Bremer's failed seven-point plan--and it bears little resemblance to the emerging realities on the ground. The truth is, we are in full-scale retreat, both politically and militarily. Bush believes that Iraq is the front line in the war on terrorism, but his Administration just declared a truce with the men he thinks of as terrorists and is now turning security over to local militias. Politically, we have tossed the ball to Lakhdar Brahimi and the U.N. But even Brahimi doesn't have much stroke. The real governing authority in Iraq appears to be the Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, who dictated the al-Sadr solution last week, and in effect vetoed the interim constitution the U.S. proposed and will, no doubt, have final say over Brahimi's new government. The President pretends that none of this is happening. Most Americans sense the President is just pretending, and they are impatiently waiting for someone to say something real.