Bush on the Lehrer Newshour

Bush on the Lehrer Newshour (via Dan Froomkin):

1. Bush on what, if anything, Americans (other than the military and their families) are sacrificing. Turns out our sacrifice involves watching TV and feeling bad:

MR. LEHRER: Let me ask you a bottom-line question, Mr. President. If it is as important as you've just said - and you've said it many times - as all of this is, particularly the struggle in Iraq, if it's that important to all of us and to the future of our country, if not the world, why have you not, as president of the United States, asked more Americans and more American interests to sacrifice something? The people who are now sacrificing are, you know, the volunteer military - the Army and the U.S. Marines and their families. They're the only people who are actually sacrificing anything at this point.

BUSH: "Well, you know, I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night. I mean, we've got a fantastic economy here in the United States, but yet, when you think about the psychology of the country, it is somewhat down because of this war."

2. Bush on democracy, American style (comments after the quote):

MR. LEHRER: But when - but when, Mr. President, does the skepticism and the criticism become so heavy and so prevalent that it becomes a factor? In other words, simply put, how in the world does any president of the United States run a war without the support of a majority of the American people and a majority of the Congress of the United States, no matter what the ins and outs are?

PRESIDENT BUSH: No, and no question about that. And that's why I'm having this interview with you. I'm trying to do my very best to explain to people why success is vital. In other words, people have got to understand that if we decide and we grow weary of - and there's a lot of war weariness in this country, and I fully understand that -- and we say, okay, well, let's just leave; we can leave in stages, but let's just leave, or let's just pull back and hope that the Iraqis are able to settle their business, the consequences of that decision will be disastrous for the future of this country. And therefore, we got to keep working on ways to succeed, as far as I'm concerned.

This is a great question that needs to be asked by a much more adversarial and dogged member of the fourth estate than Mr. Lehrer. First of all, Lehrer frames the question in terms of public opinion, asking when it beomes a 'factor' in the President's decision making. In other words, he's asking how far the President will go before listening to his subjects and deciding, on his own, to change course because they've complained loudly enough. But the question must also be framed (although not necesarily put to Bush himself) in terms of the legality of Bush's authoritarian behavior, and what legal tools (if any) the American people have at their disposal to stop him before he drags this country any further down the rabbithole.

As for Bush's answer (typically unchallenged by the always cheerful Mr. Lehrer), it begins with a typically irrational 'No' answer to this 'How' question -- a 'No' that he further amplifies ("no question about that"). I suppose he means "No, no question about that -- I can't run a war without majority support", but his proposed solution is simply to explain (once again) to the passive citizens of this country why he's forging ahead ("people have got to understand"). I think it's safe to assume that he'll keep 'explaining' until January 20, 2009.