Admitting mistakes

If ever George W. Bush had an ally, it would be Tony Blair. The men have been through it all together–entry into the war in Iraq, managing the problems of the war, and handling the dropping poll numbers at home as a result of the war.

So last night it was interesting to watch the two men do a two-step: defending the decision to go to war in the first place, while at the same time conceding that, as we say in Washingtonese, mistakes have been made.

Let's focus for a moment on the president. First, the admissions– that he was too flippant at the onset of the war, saying things like "bring it on," and also that he believes that the Abu Ghraib prison scandal is something that should never have happened and something the country is still paying for in the region. There's a cynical way to look at what he said–which is that the president understands that while the public will forgive mistakes, it does not forgive arrogance. He's been told to lose the arrogance (and, indeed, he's been told by none other than his wife to lose the cowboy "dead or alive" language) because he needs his credibility. Most Americans supported the war at the outset, and most now believe they were wrong–so they're admitting they made mistakes, too.

The second interpretation is less cynical. Maybe there is a chance that Bush has grown in office–and understands now that he was too eager to chide his enemies and declare victory ("mission accomplished") long before victory was at hand. And maybe he also was truly sickened by what he saw in those Abu Ghraib pictures, just like the rest of us.

Or maybe it's a combination of the two. Bush understands that his presidency will probably be judged by Iraq. He knows, as he said last night, that "the Iraq war has created a sense of consternation here in America." The president knows he must talk about the obvious if he is to be trusted by the American people again. His resolve on the need to topple Saddam does not have to diminish; but if he continues to lose his swagger, Americans might just start listening to him again. Which is what he desperately needs–and wants.