Some good points

Dean Barnett makes some very good points about Iraq, however I have to disagree with this one:

President Bush has at times been a great leader in the “war on terror.” At other times, he’s been intellectually absent. We need leadership now. Someone needs to explain the stakes to the American people and what this fight is all about. Someone needs to explain that there will be a lot of death and suffering ahead, and unfortunately it won’t be just the enemy doing the dying and suffering. The President has two years left and no further campaigns to concern himself with. This would be an ideal, albeit belated, time to explain to the American people what’s going on, and how our real enemy is a lot more numerous and dangerous than the cave dwelling loons in Waziristan.

Yet since the midterms the President has been totally missing except when offering some annoying pabulum about raising the minimum wage.

Just today Bush said nothing less than victory would suffice. But the larger point I think is the assertion that Bush has not explained the war to Americans. Time and again Bush has spoken about this war, so often that his critics have claimed he just repeats himself. And yet other critics seem to think that another speech will do the trick. As if all Bush has to do to offset the avalanche of negative press is to explain what the fight is all about. Well frankly, if people have not gotten some idea thus far, they are not listening.