After reading the remarkable VDH piece over at NRO ask yourself one more time why it is that Bush can't say this? Isn't that HIS FUCKING JOB? I submit that it isn't up to us, VDH, Sullivan, me, or anybody else to "interpret" our purpose. It is the president's job and only the president's. By this standard Bush is the worst president since Jerry Ford, who at least could articulate policy; yelling "fore" just after his golf ball nails an old lady is classic Ghengis Kahn and taking over for a disgraced predessor and then pardoning him is so totally Machiavelli many were calling him "Nico" Ford. Honestly, can you imagine FDR, Ike, JFK, Nixon, or any of them allowing this drift in Iraq without reminding us of what everything in the Middle East is about? Our policy is not VDH's policy, Hitch's, or anyone else's but Bush's. His refusal or inability to articulate clear policy and purpose is a disgrace. If there is somebody else to vote for in '04 you can bet I will take that route.