Three Cheers For President Bush

Just days before the much-heralded Iraq Study Group is set to make recommendations many believe will include an almost immediate but gradual drawing down of troop levels and diplomatic cooperation with terror states, President Bush is making it clear that he will have none of  it:

Bush acknowledged that pressure and said he wanted to start troop withdrawals as soon as possible. Still, he insisted the U.S. will stay "until the job is complete."

"I know there's a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there's going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq," he said. "This business about a graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all."

President Bush is again showing himself to be the anti-Washingtonian, impervious to the vile temptations of beltway conventional wisdom and short-sighted political pressures.  The recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton group, anticipated as being tantamount to defeat by another name, are likely dead on arrival and there's no shortage of relief on my end.  No doubt President Bush's courage and commitment to the mission will infuriate the Democrats and their kindred in the MSM, who, for all their protestations, aren't as committed to waging and winning the Global War on Terror.  President Bush has reminded me why I voted for him twice.  What some see as obstinance, I see as courage of conviction.  We should pay attention and be appreciative of what we are seeing, because political courage like this doesn't manifest itself very much within the consultant and focus group-driven world of modern politics.