I Never Have Disagreed With Victor Davis Hanson - Until Now ...

"Mr. Bush’s Communication Problem
It’s not him; it’s what he’s supposed to be communicating."

... it's not communication! One would have to go back over the President's entire administration and this Blog to understand that it's all about RESULTS, not about communicating intentions ...

Mr. Hanson states his case clearly in the following 3 paragraphs:

"The old calculus was first the proverbial horse of defeating and vanquishing utterly the enemy; then the cart of showing magnanimity in rebuilding the country of a contrite loser. Only in that order would the Americans be willing to give millions to the former supporters of once murderous Nazis, Italian fascists, or imperial Japanese who had killed and maimed their sons."

... aka, the "old way"

"In the Middle East, we reversed the sequence, on the idealistic — and I think correct — premise that the Afghan and Iraqi people were captive to their dictators, and that we wished to avoid an all-encompassing conflict along the lines of World War II. In other words, we trusted that the Taliban and Saddam Hussein explained the recent savagery of the Afghans and Iraqis, rather than the innate savagery of the Afghans and Iraqis themselves explaining the creation of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. The result of this confidence, despite the carnage of war, was that democracy was ushered in, the rogues were to be kept out, and peace was supposed to follow from a grateful, liberated people. "

... aka, the "new way"

"In any case, the administration’s problem is not really its (sound) strategy, nor its increasingly improved implementation that we see in Baghdad, but simply an American public that so far understandably cannot easily differentiate millions of brave Iraqis and Afghans, who risk their lives daily to hunt terrorists and ensure reform, from the Islamists of the Muslim Street who broadcast their primordial hatred for Israel and the United States incessantly. "

... we just don't understand!

... the last bit is where he goes wrong. I think the American people completely understand that there are Iraqis and Afghanis who fight for and cherish freedom and that they are different from the Jihadist murderers. The problems the President is having has to do with RESULTS and ACTION, not communication. We do not see positive, war-winning results and his actions here at home and abroad are dismal at best. Perhaps, just perhaps, the NEW WAY is not working? ...