Peggy Noonan's reaction to the president's speech on the surge has this headline:
The Two Vacuums
Neither Iraqis nor Democrats seem ready to do what's required of them
It gets better, actually. She points out that Bush's performance was sub par, even for Bush, and she almost sorta admits that Iraq is a disaster. But she can't help turning back into looking for the real hostile enemy among the Democrats as usual.
What do they say about facing ones addictions? The first step is to admit that you have a problem? Peggy is not quite there yet if she thinks that Nancy Pelosi is the person she should blame for all these problems:
But there are two vacuums in the Iraq story. The first is the vacuum that would be filled in Iraq if America withdrew tomorrow. The second is the power vacuum that will be created in Washington if the administration is, indeed, collapsing. The Democrats of Capitol Hill will fill that one. And they seem--and seemed in their statements after the president's speech--wholly unprepared to fill it, wholly unserious in their thoughts and approach. They seem locked into habits that no longer pertain, and absorbed by the small picture of partisan advancement at the expense of the big picture, which is that the nation is in trouble and needs their help. They are sunk in the superficial.
When Nancy Pelosi showed up at the White House Wednesday to talk with the president it was obvious she'd spent a lot of time thinking about . . . what to wear. She wrapped herself in a rich red shawl. Dick Morris said it looked like a straitjacket. I thought she looked like a particularly colorful mummy. She complained that the president had not asked for her input as he put together his plan. He should have. But what would she have brought to the table if she'd been asked to it? It is still--still!--unclear.
Mmm. Except that Pelosi is not the Commander-in-Chief and all that other shit.
NTodd has a longer critique of Noonan's column.