White House Lowering Expectations on Iraq

The Bush administration is trying to lower the public's expectations on Iraq ahead of the September evaluation. Mine can't be lowered. They rest on the floor of the sub-basement of the High Rise of Expectations, where they've been since forever. But now, I have a lot of company.

According to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, only 10% of Americans think the situation there has improved since the surge. That's edging towards the percentage who respond positively to unsolicited emails from Nigeria. It's a smaller percentage than believe the right face cream will make them look younger, a smaller percentage than will pay to hear Donald Trump share his secrets of wealth creation. If I was trying to sell a guaranteed method to make a person irresistible to the opposite sex, I'd want to know the addresses of everybody in that 10% who think things are getting better in Iraq.

This is a nation of optimists. Many of them have repeatedly voted for candidates who promise to reduce taxes for the rich, because they believe that someday they could be rich, and wouldn't want to be highly taxed. But they are no longer optimistic about Iraq. And this poll was taken before General Patraeus announced that he had a "terrible, sinking feeling" upon hearing about the latest attack on the mosque in Samarra.

So lowering expectations is quite a challenge at this point, but who knows? They've done it with the attorney general. Now, all we expect is that he'll occasionally show up for work. We no longer expect affordable health care or decent pay. So maybe they'll be able to work it around so that we don't expect anything better than catastrophe in Iraq, and if it's merely a complete disaster, they look good.

Meanwhile, it's getting more crowded down here in the sub-basement of expectations.