The Heart of the Matter

Bush's response to Neely's question was particularly telling because it demonstrated that the president still doesn't think he himself did anything wrong in Iraq. He recognizes that things didn't go as planned there, but doesn't seem to think any of it was his fault.

That indeed casts doubt on his ability to change course. As I pointed out in my October 20 column, the first step to recovery is recognizing that you have a problem.

Frank James blogs about the Brits for the Chicago Tribune: "We American reporters aren't sure why our British cousins don't stand when they ask questions of our president or their prime minister like we do," he writes.

"But they sure have a suave way of asking the impertinent questions we reporters are duty bound to ask the powerful."

The Coverage

Bush claimed to have read the Iraq Study Group report, but so far there are no signs that it has changed his mind about anything. In addition to rejecting its key proposals yesterday, Bush continued to use the sort of soaring rhetoric about democracy, ideological struggle and victory that the report's authors pointedly avoid as irrelevant to the current dire situation on the ground.

James Gerstenzang writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush, responding Thursday to a scathing bipartisan assessment of the Iraq war, vigorously rejected the idea that deteriorating conditions there require the United States to scale back its goals and said that he remains committed to 'victory in Iraq.' . . .

"As he has many times before, Bush cast the Iraq war as part of a global struggle between violent ideological extremists and defenders of freedom and democracy.

"'We will stand firm again in this first war of the 21st century,' the president said. 'We will defeat the extremists and the radicals. We will help a young democracy prevail in Iraq. And in so doing, we will secure freedom and peace for millions, including our own citizens.'"

Peter Baker and Robin Wright write in The Washington Post: "President Bush vowed yesterday to come up with 'a new strategy' in Iraq but expressed little enthusiasm for the central ideas of a bipartisan commission that advised him to ratchet back the U.S. military commitment in Iraq and launch an aggressive new diplomatic effort in the region. . . .

"The emerging debate over the report sets a baseline for the administration's own internal review of Iraq policy, which officials hope to complete in time for Bush to give a speech to the nation before Christmas announcing his new plan for Iraq. . . .

"Yet, while the president called the Iraq Study Group's ideas 'worthy of serious study,' he seemed to dismiss the most significant ones point by point. He noted that Blair is heading to the Middle East to promote Arab-Israeli peace, but he gave no indication that he plans an aggressive new push of his own as proposed by the commission. Bush said he, too, wants to bring U.S. troops home but noted that the group qualified its 2008 goal by linking it to security on the ground.

"And he repeated his refusal to talk with Iran and Syria unless Tehran suspends its uranium-enrichment program, Damascus stops interfering in Lebanon and both drop their support for terrorist groups."