Lemonade

There’s that old saying, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” The Bush Administration is now furiously making a batch.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, under fire at home and soon to leave office, has announced a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops form Iraq. Other members of the Bush coalition are, or are said to be considering, withdrawing their troops.

While Bush’s staunch friend, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, has pledged not to withdraw his country’s troops, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has pledged a phased withdrawal should his Australian Labor Party win the upcoming Australian election. So Bush’s escalation many need several thousand more American troops.

What’s Bush to do? Politically isolated at home, with a majority of the American people opposed to his war, and now allies pulling out their troops or possibly doing so in the near future, he has only one option: Make lemonade! A Reuters story shows this in action:

“President Bush sees this as a sign of success and what is possible for us once we help the Iraqis deal with the sectarian violence in Baghdad,” said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

“Success,” yeah that’s a good word. How witty and clever of them to use it to mean the opposite of what’s really going on. Actually, there’s a word for that, too: Spin.

No one’s fooled by Bush or his failed policies, no matter how sweet he tries to make his lemonade.