Why did we focus on General Petraeus vs. the President or the administration?
President Bush’s credibility is almost gone. That’s why he’s remained in the background this week, and relied on General Petraeus to deliver the message that things are getting better. This works as long as people in Washington are afraid to question the General’s credibility. But the truth is, the General does have a history of overstating the case for progress for political reasons. For example, just before the 2004 election he wrote a Washington Post op-ed claiming widespread gains in Iraq, which was widely viewed as a tacit endorsement of Bush. And though he said this week’s report was his and his alone, the Washington Post has documented that he been coordinating extensively with top White House political operatives. His outfit joined daily conference calls with the White House and former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie this summer to “map out ways of selling the surge.” The Post reported that Gillespie’s White House political unit was “hard-wired” to Petraeus’ military unit. As long as
