Automatic Bob: The Bob Herbert Column Generator

No End in Sight
By "Automatic Bob" Herbert

Mr. Bush cannot explain our mission in Iraq and has nothing resembling an exit strategy.

George W. Bush has no strategy, no real plan, for winning the war in Iraq. So we're stuck in a murderous quagmire without even the suggestion of an end in sight.

The sad truth about Iraq is that one year after President Bush gaudily proclaimed victory with his Top Gun moment aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, we don't know what we're doing in Iraq. Mr. Bush's Top Gun moment aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was two and a half years ago. It was another example of the president in fantasyland. This guy is something. Remember his Top Gun moment aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln? And his famous taunt -- "Bring 'em on" -- to the insurgents in Iraq?

A president can stay out of step with reality only so long. Eventually there's a political price to pay.

George W. Bush had no such concerns. In fact, he joked about his failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Like a frat boy making cracks about a bad bet on a football game, Mr. Bush displayed what he felt was a hilarious set of photos during a spoof that he performed at the annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents Association in March 2004.

The photos showed the president peering behind curtains and looking under furniture in the Oval Office for the missing weapons. Mr. Bush offered mock captions for the photos, saying, "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere." And, "Nope, no weapons over there, maybe under here."

Does President Bush even tip his hat to reality as he goes breezing by? It's exactly what we should expect from the president and his supporters, who seem always to exist in a fantasy realm far removed from such ugly realities as war and suffering.

Condoleezza Rice went on television to say with a straight face, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Colin Powell, who urged the president to think more deeply about the consequences of invading Iraq, is being shoved toward the exit. And Condoleezza Rice, who blithely told America, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," is being ushered in to take his place.

You have to wonder whether reality ever comes knocking on George W. Bush's door.