Let us hope I am very discouraged about Iraq and what is going on. Whenever I feel this way I usually go back to something I've read before. Last night I reread a Lincoln biography. I picked up a few quotes:

"The pilots on our Western rivers steer from point to point as they call it ---- setting the course of the boat no farther than they can see; and that is all I propose to myself in this great problem."----
---Abraham Lincoln----

That was Lincoln's reply when asked what he had in mind for Reconstruction after the Civil War. I don't think Bush is Abraham Lincoln, although most Lincoln biographers state that Lincoln was the least prepared and least qualified man to ever become president, Bush is not showing leadership. And I'd point out Lincoln did not go on vacation for a month in the middle of the Civil War.

And Lincoln was also famous for the following, which he uttered again and again

"My policy is to have no policy"

This drove everybody around him nuts. Biographers opine that this "motto" of his allowed him to try again and again til something worked. Lincoln was very patient. He did not give up after one failure.

But that was Lincoln. We have Bush.