Eugene McCarthy said something very significant just prior to the 1968 presidential campaign. He said the war (Vietnam) will not become massively unpopular until the body bags start coming home in large number to small midwestern towns of population 5,000 or less.
Bush knows this. He knows he doesn't have a thing to worry about until this happens. Could be this is why we won't see more boots on the ground when they're needed most. Could very well be this is why we won't see the kind of offensive action needed to put an end to this once and for all.
With a campaign opponent like John Kerry, Bush doesn't need to do a thing. Ten or twenty casualties a week won't effect his standing with the electorate one bit. Neither will a prolonged struggle. 500-600 body bags a week will. And that is never going to happen.
I only know that if Bill Clinton had done exactly the same thing, the entire country would be screaming treason! to the heights of heaven.