I was at first excited about this Post article reporting that Kerry has decided that he must go after Bush full-bore on Iraq for the rest of the campaign. But then I read it more carefully.

A two phase plan is in effect. Phase one: Kerry will continue doing what he has been doing over the past few days--suggesting that Bush is deceiving us about the true nature of our difficulties in Iraq. Good. An excellent way of calling attention to the horrible reality there and of getting a handle on the key issue of the campaign: Bush's inability to speak words that refer to reality and to treat the war as anything more serious than a loud, dark ride at Epcot Center.

Phase two: Kerry will soon draw sharp differences between Bush's "plan" and his own ideas about how to get the troops out in four years. Sounds good--Kerry is finally going to give his own "plan," give specifics, give us a choice, etc. But this is not good.

Talk about leaving Iraq will not work. Bush will use this to slaughter Kerry. The idea of "cutting and running," or of "surrendering," or of "accepting failure"--all of these are simply unacceptable to most Americans, and Bush will insist that this is what Kerry is proposing. Leaving Iraq without "success," before the "job" is done, has simply not been acknowledged as a possibility by enough people in this country yet to advance it as a proposal. And a plan for withdrawal over four years is going to be called a plan for leaving before the job is done--convincingly.

Of course I agree with the need for a plan to get us the fuck out of there, somehow, some way. Of course the course seems already set for Iraq--greased rails straight to hell. Of course there is no "job" to do, no possibility of "success," nothing to "accomplish"--beyond avoiding unnecessary death. But Kerry just can't say this--or even appear to be suggesting it remotely. He's got to say that Bush doesn't know what the fuck he's doing; that things there are terrible, out of control; that Bush is in dangerous denial; that Bush ignored the advice of the military and hung our troops out to dry; and THAT HE, JOHN KERRY, WILL BE A BETTER, MORE EFFECTIVE, TRIUMPHANT, REALISTIC, STEELY-EYED, TRUTH-TELLING, AMERICAN COMMANDER IN CHIEF THAN THIS SHIRKING, CRINGING LIAR.

That's it--end of story. It doesn't matter that a GREAT commander would get us the fuck out. Americans don't want a great commander. We want someone who will give us some assurance that he is not an alcoholic shit-eater, and who will, at the same time, sacrifice a few thousand more people on the altar of our sick delusions.

Kerry has got to give us what we want.