We have a dangerous problem on our hand. We need to fix it. And we need to realize that we are in new territory for the world and for the United States. The fact that we have never struck first in a situation like this is irrelevant, I'm afraid.
Bush and Rumsfeld are doing their job pretty well. As Ann Coulter would say, the grown-ups are in charge now.
The reason why most Americans in the polls agree with Bush and Rumsfeld is because most Americans don't live within the beltway. They don't have the ineffectual, pass-the-buck mentality of the typical bureaucrat. They specifically realize that "statesmanship" is not the important issue at hand. (A lot of high-ranking military types, including even Colin Powell, have been conditioned to misapprehend their own roles.)
It's stunning.