As Hitch wrote in the last month’s Vanity Fair, what if it works? The one scenario that we may be discounting right now is the possibility that the worst is over in Iraq, that momentum toward self-government is building and that the financial commitment the U.S. has made could provide the tipping point toward greater self-confidence on the part of the good guys in Iraq. Safire is right that decent momentum (and $20 billion is a huge push) would lead to better intelligence could lead to … who knows? Even the media is beginning to show more perspective in their accounts of what’s wrong and what’s right. Bush’s recent passivity – silence, almost – may be less defenisveness (athough there’s surely some of that) but a quiet expectation that things will improve and that his political fortunes will only look up if they do.
HANGING IN THERE II: Tony Blair wins a first round in surviving his annual party conference with as little damage as possible. The lefties won’t be voting on Iraq. And he’s not caving in on DLC-style public sector reforms either. Unlike most of the Democratic candidates.
The Dish 