Breath Not Held

The long-awaited report of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group is finally here. James Baker is all over the airwaves with his soundbite that "stay the course" is no longer viable, and there must be a change in Iraq policy.

As pleasant as it is to hear someone in the media spotlight saying something so straightforward, the news is merely that James Baker is saying it, not that our policy in Iraq isn't working. That's been obvious for a long time.

Despite it being from the mouth of James Baker, I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to affect W's policy. After all, he's been saying for weeks now that he's never been staying the course, so Baker's announcement is already inoperative. Bush has also already started other policy review efforts, which aren't due to report until long after the media spotlight on Baker-Hamilton has moved on. He's already said he won't make any decisions until after he's heard from all of these efforts. (Just in case you were thinking that the Baker-Hamilton report was already in danger of being made obsolete by events on the ground.)

Once upon a time, Baker-Hamilton was itself seen as a delaying tactic, as well as a way of giving him a face-saving out of the corner created by the Cheney-Rove policy to date. But if W. were interested in such a thing, he certainly didn't show it today, with his lukewarm receipt of the ISG report. Anyone who's ever handed over a resume interviewing for a job they wouldn't get should recognize that tone of "thanks, we'll take a look at it."