Opinion (Richard Wolfe): 'Where Mistakes Have Been Made'

Jan. 10, 2007 - Everything was meant to signal change. The long internal debates with advisers. The meetings with outside experts. The talk of a new way forward.

Even the setting was intended to put the president in a fresh light. The old Bush was a man of action on the deck of an aircraft carrier or at his desk in the Oval Office. The new Bush: a thoughtful realist speaking to the nation from his library, with the wisdom of all those books behind him.

But if you listened closely to President Bush on Wednesday night, the much-anticipated speech didn’t change the central mission much. It’s clear, hold and build—only this time with money behind it, but not that much money, and not enough new troops to really make a difference. And, Bush signaled loud and clear, it’s really the Iraqis’ problem now.

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