Excerpt:
........."But he is on the defensive over Iraq now, just as he is on the defensive at home over the sluggish economy, which continues to shed jobs despite the latest infusion of tax cuts. The irony is that, if there was anything White House officials and Republican leaders assumed, it was that Bush's strength as a wartime leader would be a major political asset in his reelection campaign, offsetting persistent public concerns about his handling of the economy.
That may well continue to be the case, but only if the progress the president and other U.S. officials have promised in Iraq and the Middle East becomes a reality before too much longer. Whether Americans are ready for the kind of expansive commitment that the president described last night is an open question. The president can blame himself for some of the unease that now exists in the country -- including within his own party -- about his Iraq policy. At the time of the war, he was encouraged, even by some who supported the invasion and the goal of deposing Saddam Hussein, to lay out in detail the potential costs and likely sacrifice the mission would entail............."