Spinning the Course

"Q Oh, yes, he has, repeatedly.

"MR. SNOW: When?

"Q Well, in August, because I wrote a story saying he didn't use it and I was quite sternly corrected.

"MR. SNOW: No, he stopped using it.

"Q Why would he stop using it?

"MR. SNOW: Because it left the wrong impression about what was going on. And it allowed critics to say, well, here's an administration that's just embarked upon a policy and not looking at what the situation is, when, in fact, it's just the opposite. The President is determined not to leave Iraq short of victory, but he also understands that it's important to capture the dynamism of the efforts that have been ongoing to try to make Iraq more secure, and therefore, enhance the clarification -- or the greater precision.

"Q Is the President responsible for the fact people think it's stay the course since he's, in fact, described it that way himself?

"MR. SNOW: No."

Opinion Watch: The War

The New York Times editorial board writes: "For all the talk of timetables for Iraq, there has been little discussion of the timetable that must be handed to George W. Bush. The president cannot leave office with American troops still dying in an Iraq that staggers along just short of civil war, on behalf of no concrete objective other than 'get the job done,' which is now Mr. Bush's rhetorical substitute for 'stay the course.'

Richard Holbrooke writes an open letter to Bush on The Washington Post op-ed page: "In your radio address last week, you said that 'our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging: . . . victory.' You added that the only thing changing 'are the tactics. . . . Commanders on the ground are constantly adjusting their approach to stay ahead of the enemy, particularly in Baghdad.' One can only hope that you do not mean those words literally -- or believe them. 'Stay the course' is not a strategy; it is a slogan, useful in domestic politics but meaningless in the field."

Holbrooke's advice: "Change your goals, disengage from the civil war already underway, focus maximum effort on seeking a political power-sharing agreement, and try to limit further damage in the region and the world."

Eugene Robinson writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "Okay, now they're just making stuff up. George W. Bush went on television Sunday and claimed that on Iraq war policy, 'We've never been 'stay the course' ' -- as if no record survived of all the times he has used those very words. Maybe he was trying to outdo Dick Cheney, who went on the radio last week and proclaimed that the beleaguered Iraqi government is doing 'remarkably well.' . . .