Seems that every step of the way the Bush administration has been lowering the expectations of American people, as if this presidency were aiming to be called the “remedial” or “special needs” presidency. Why should recent news be any different?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081300853_pf.html
[quote]The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.
The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.
“What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground,” said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. “We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we’re in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning.”[/quote]
Given that going to war is one of the most solemn acts a government can do, I suppose it’s no wonder that Bush now has no credibility with the American people.