There was so much hype before the Iraq Study Group delivered its report to President Bush. The best and the brightest - supposedly - from both mainstream American parties - presumably - with endless depth of experience and knowledge - allegedly.
All this knowledge and depth and look what they came up with - no fewer than 79 proposals, barely one shy of 'four score' (you would've thought they might notice the significance of that).
Seventy nine, a veritable forest of proposals, each of them bearing the stamp of compromise. A forest where the beset could escape and hide. The 'plan' had barely hit the bookstores before everyone turned into a critic and began tearing its hide into shreds.
Seventy nine, a number by its very size doomed to manipulation and chicanery. A cherry picker's dream.
No, if the Baker-Hamilton study group had wanted to help move this debacle along, if they really meant it, they would have stuck with the wheat, thrown away the chaff, and boiled the whole thing down to something workable, say somewhere between four and seven clear, cogent, unambiguous and forceful recommendations.
This is the realm of politics, the big leagues where truth is stood on its head with sublime ease. You don't give these spinmeisters 79 damned options! Let's face it, this group comprised a lot of veteran pols who cut their teeth on clinch fighting. They knew that 79 options meant the pres could ignore just about all of them, waive a few remainders around and say, since he agreed with those, he was following the report.
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