"The American people have got to understand"

The Tutor-in-Chief:

Couric: "In some way, does this hopefully in your view placate critics of the war on Capitol Hill?"

Bush: "You know I don't know, Katie, it's a good question. I would certainly hope so. In other words, if we're able to redeploy at some point time, I would hope so."

Bush then lapsed back into his familiar scare tactics: "Failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States. . . . The American people have got to understand that what happens in Iraq matters in the streets. And so therefore I would hope that people would, you know, listen to the facts and remember that the security of the country is at stake. "

Couric raised the withdrawal issue again: "But just hearing those two words -- troop reduction -- do think it will win some people over who are uncomfortable with this war?"

And this time, Bush backed down: "That was just speculating. It's not going to win anybody over until it becomes a reality."

Bush met with reporters on Air Force One after leaving Iraq, and made it clear he was aware that his comment about troop reductions had piqued interest. "Maybe I was intending to do that," he said.

"If you look at my comments over the past eight months, it's gone from a security situation in the sense that we're either going to get out and there will be chaos, or more troops," the president said. "Now the situation has changed where I'm able to speculate on the hypothetical. . . . Isn't that remarkable?"

WTF does that mean?