Sunday, January 16, 2005

Reelection equals full approval on Iraq?

Around the same time that President Bush conceded poor judgment on some of his first term statements (see previous post), he has made a curiously liberal interpretation of his reelection. Below is part of an interview with the Washington Post:

The Post: In Iraq, there's been a steady stream of surprises. We weren't welcomed as liberators, as Vice President Cheney had talked about. We haven't found the weapons of mass destruction as predicted. The postwar process hasn't gone as well as some had hoped. Why hasn't anyone been held accountable, either through firings or demotions, for what some people see as mistakes or misjudgments?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 election. And the American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me, for which I'm grateful.

Somehow, Bush equates his reelection with a full approval of his Iraq policy and implies that no other accountability measures should be taken. Yet, in the most recent poll regarding his Iraq policy that I could find, the majority of Americans stated that the conflict was not worth fighting given its cost. This, and other findings from the poll, hardly give one the impression that Americans completely approve of the Iraq policy. I guess the President's concessions to reality only go so far...

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