Bush fails to inspire BY NEIL STEINBERG

Bush fails to inspire BY NEIL STEINBERG
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times Columnist
January 12, 2007


Did you watch the president's speech Wednesday night? The one where George W. Bush outlined his plan for victory in Iraq?

What did you see?

I'll tell you what I didn't see. I didn't see the strong and confident leader of the greatest nation on earth presenting a plan that might work.

Instead, I saw a frightened man. A man with that terrified, deer-in-the-headlights look of someone who recognizes doom bearing down on him, and he can't move to save himself.

If you interpret that as malice, as knee-jerk partisan slander of our nation's leader, you're wrong. I supported Bush when he invaded Iraq. I thought it was a good idea. And I cheered -- idiotically -- along with him when he landed on that carrier deck and announced "mission accomplished."

Nothing would have felt better than to sit down on the sofa with my son and watch a newly determined, steely-eyed president explain to a dubious nation exactly how we are going to salvage this mess.

Didn't happen. Nothing close. Send more troops and more money. A bold blend of too little and too late.