A veritable "shining path"

Leader of Oceania speaks to the troops
Originally uploaded by vegacura.

Taking a break from what Wolcott calls a Willy Lomanesque campaign of shilling private accounts, Bush is going to put forth his golden tongue to tell the American people what he's been telling them for weeks -- it's all going swimmingly.

Mr. Bush will speak to the nation at 8 p.m. from Fort Bragg, N.C., before an audience of hundreds of troops. ABC said it would carry the address live. CBS and NBC said they had yet to decide. Tuesday is the first anniversary of the formal transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis after the American-led invasion.

Mr. McClellan suggested that Mr. Bush would not signal any change in military or diplomatic strategy. Instead, he said, the president will emphasize that Iraq is making progress despite the mounting loss of life, and that the United States cannot allow the understandable concern about the violent insurgency to deter it from completing the job.

Hmmm. What of Fox?

Sayeth Wolcott:

Here's what I'm wondering. Bush is making a major national address on Tuesday about Iraq. With each speech he masticated about Social Security "reform," approval for his non-existent program sagged. His sixty-day sales tour was a Willy Loman flop. Suppose he makes a rallying call on Tuesday and his poll numbers subsequently drop even more? I recall when LBJ would go before the nation with a televised address to shore up support on Vietnam, and it was too late, the nation had had enough. I'm not saying that will happen next week--Bush's speechwriter may whip enough enough eloquence for a temporary boost in the polls--but suppose it does? If Bush comes forward, and the American people recoil, I suspect a line of perspiration will begin to form even along Bill Kristol's thin upper lip.

Here's what I'm wondering. Will anyone tune in to watch Dear Leader stand before the troops -- more evidence that he considers them little more than stage props -- and use all of Michael Gerson's fabled elequence to spit out "stay the course?"