Portrait of a Flailing White House

A Washington Post report this morning about President Bush's futile search for a war czar provides one of the most fascinating and revelatory looks into the inner workings of the White House in a long time.

It is the portrait of a White House flailing around to salvage its disastrous war -- while still refusing to acknowledge just how disastrous it's been.

With Vice President Cheney remaining very much in control of the agenda, the best solution the White House could apparently come up with was one that only the nation's first MBA president could love: A new layer of management.

Meanwhile, there is apparently no serious consideration being given inside the West Wing to what has become the dominant view of the American citizenry: That Iraq is a lost cause, and that it's time to start getting out.

And -- oh yes -- no one with the stature such a job would require is interested in taking it.

Every word of the article by Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks is worth reading -- and re-reading.

"The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation," they write.

"At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said. . . .

"'The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going,' said retired Marine Gen. John J. 'Jack' Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job. Sheehan said he believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq. 'So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, "No, thanks," ' he said. . . .

"'There's the residue of the Cheney view -- "We're going to win, al-Qaeda's there" -- that justifies anything we did,' he said. 'And then there's the pragmatist view -- how the hell do we get out of Dodge and survive? Unfortunately, the people with the former view are still in the positions of most influence.'"

Baker and Ricks explain that the nearest thing to such a czar now is deputy national security adviser Meghan O'Sullivan. But O'Sullivan, who recently gave notice, is a mid-level functionary. The new czar would be a top-level aide to Bush and would have the power to issue directions over other agencies, their sources said.

Critics, however, say no one individual can fix a failed policy -- so it's no wonder no one wants the job.