Hey, take your time.

Seriously, I'm a bit confused about the supposed spin we are to be buying these days in regards to President Bush and his upcoming "New Way Forward." On the one hand, it certainly sounds like he's taking advice from many people to help him shape new policy. But we also know the White House took great pains to discount the findings from the Iraq Study Group, which disagreed with the Bush Doctrine in the most vanilla of ways. So pretending he's going to dramatically change policy is probably folly.

But also...seriously, how long is he supposedly going to be studying this situation? Shouldn't he basically always be pretty much up to date with how things are going over there? The more people he needs to 'consult' with, the more it sounds like he's finally interested in the war as more than just something "over there" that he started.

Now, I know he's more invested than that - to what degree is probably debatable, but he's obviously not completely aloof here. But it is starting to come across that way, mostly because of how the White House is handling this. And there's just about no way his "New Way Forward" doesn't now come across as a huge disappointment, especially if it's not materially different than the current plan, or even just a rehash of the Escalation (or 'Surge' as the RNC would prefer).

This administration has always had terrible, irresponsible policy. But their politics were top-notch in how they stayed on message and got things done. Now it seems that's fallen to pieces as well.