Bush Sets Timetable for Iraq Withdrawal. Wait a Minute...

Is he fer it or agin it?

It's hard to tell anymore whether Bush is ready to set a timetable to pull out of Iraq. On Monday, he gave a speech where he said he would cede control over most of the country to Iraqis by the end of the year and repeated his oft-used pledge: "As Iraqis stand up, America and our coalition will stand down." But then he said, that "decisions on troop levels" will not be set by "artificial timetables set by politicians here in Washington, D.C."

So Bush's decision to begin a stand-down by the end of the year is clearly not artificial. But it sure quacks like a timetable ...

Of course, the most cynical among us would suggest that Bush has a very clear and very real timetable - pull back before the November election after declaring mission accomplished (again). Rove and Mehlman have made it clear that security will be their issue this year as it was in the last two elections. So why not bring the boys and girls home just in time to keep Nancy Pelosi out of the Speaker's Chair? If the draft-dodging White House can call veterans Max Cleland and John Kerry anti-American, they certainly have the chutzpah to declare Iraq a success story and put up a bunch of pictures of happy troops reuniting on American soil.

Yet, Bush now has a problem that he didn't have in 2002 and 2004. The American people do not believe him anymore. In fact, he has a such a contradictory record on withdrawal, one must wonder whether Bush has been replaced by his good twin Dave:

THEN: timetables would "send the wrong message" to the Iraqis, American troops, and "the enemy" (George W. Bush, June 28, 2005)
NOW: Bush "a rare example of specificity from a president who has avoided setting timetables for U.S. actions" (LA Times, March 14)
THEN: "we remain baffled -- nowhere does [Jack Murtha] explain how retreating from Iraq makes America safer" (White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, November 17, 2005)
NOW: Bush "set a loose goal of training enough Iraqi police and soldiers to control a majority of Iraq's territory by the end of this year," (New York Times, March 14)

Bush's strength used to be his certainty of purpose and stubborn will. Americans respected him for that even when they did not agree with his choices, very much like they supported Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky problem and Ronald Reagan during Iran-Contra and a poor economy.

At least on this troop withdrawal issue, it has gotten so bad that even W doesn't know who he is anymore.