Why Isnt The President Fighting For His Plan - Road to the Middle Class

RADIO TALK-SHOW host Hugh Hewitt is fit to be tied about the lackluster media offensive for the president’s plan for a “surge” in Iraq. The president sent Tony Snow out to talk to the bloggers and the talk-radio shows, he gave his speech, appeared on 60 Minutes, and sent folks out on the weekend talk shows, he notes.

And that was it.

Media offensive over.

Why aren’t the president and his administration fighting and getting their message out?

If, as the president has argued, and as I believe, the war—in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia and across the globe—is the central calling of our time, then the men and women in charge of winning it need to embrace the very difficult task of persuading a public bombarded every day with a contrary argument.

Every day. In many places. With passion.

So the question is: Are they tired, worn out by five years of brutal opposition? Or do they judge that the Democrats aren’t going to stop the surge, so why bother?

Or is the fix in? Are Democrats privately saying: “Go for It, Mr. President,” even as they butter up their anti-war base with withering criticism and non-binding resolutions?

Maybe the Bushies feel that there is no political will to do anything about the War on Terror until the American people get riled up by another atrocity on American soil.

Or maybe they think they are doing fine, and that the media opposition is just a sideshow.

The truth is that we just don’t know. All we do know is that the Bush administration is not working hard to build public support for the war.

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Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.

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