Odom Says Bush AWOL

That's Odom as in General William Odom:

"General Odom has served as Director of the National Security Agency and Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, the Army’s senior intelligence officer.":

"“To put this in a simple army metaphor, the Commander-in-Chief seems to have gone AWOL, that is ‘absent without leave.’ He neither acts nor talks as though he is in charge. Rather, he engages in tit-for-tat games.

“Some in Congress on both sides of the aisle have responded with their own tits-for-tats. These kinds of games, however, are no longer helpful, much less amusing. They merely reflect the absence of effective leadership in a crisis. And we are in a crisis.
“Most Americans suspect that something is fundamentally wrong with the President’s management of the conflict in Iraq. And they are right.
“The challenge we face today is not how to win in Iraq; it is how to recover from a strategic mistake: invading Iraq in the first place. The war could never have served American interests."

I thought Bush was ready to show some humility after the election, Rumsfeld ouster, and the Baker report, but he still seems as strong-headed as ever. Bush is a lamer lame duck than Tony Blair, and that is one reason why the election season kicked off so soon this time. We're ready for somebody new. Almost anybody new will do.