The new way forward. Way, way, way, way, way, way forward.

If you haven’t yet figured out that BushCo is rejecting the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, you have only to check out the alternative plan posted at the American Enterprise Institute’s website. Bush said in his press conference yesterday that he hasn’t finished deciding what he’s going to do yet in his “new way forward,” but you can bet he’s going to use this tired “new” idea of the “troop surge” (thanks for pushing it, John “maverick” McCain! Good to see that your head isn’t still firmly planted inside Bush’s asshole at all!) and all the other neocon reshufflings as an excuse to put together a way forward that really isn’t a way forward at all, but a way to keep us in Iraq until Bush is out of office. Because as long as he keeps fighting this awful losing battle, he won’t have lost this war, his successor will.

For a much better analysis of Bush’s dilemma of the ego, see Sidney Blumenthal’s essay in Salon today (reg. required for free day pass):

The opening section of the ISG report is a lengthy analysis of the dire situation in Iraq. But Bush has frantically brushed that analysis away just as he has rejected every objective assessment that had reached him before. He has assimilated no analysis whatsoever of what's gone wrong. For him, there's no past, especially his own. There's only the present. The war is detached from strategic purposes, the history of Iraq and the region, and political and social dynamics, and instead is grasped as a test of character. Ultimately, what's at stake is his willpower.

Repudiated in the midterm elections, Bush has elevated himself above politics, and repeatedly says, "I am the commander in chief." With the crash of Rove's game plan for using his presidency as an instrument to leverage a permanent Republican majority, Bush is abandoning the role of political leader. He can't disengage militarily from Iraq because that would abolish his identity as a military leader, his default identity and now his only one.

If you still doubt that Iraq has become all about him, check out this response at his press conference yesterday when a reporter, after remarking that people commonly assert that 43 will only be remembered for Iraq, asked the president what he will do with the last quarter of his presidency to expand his record:

“And you're talking about legacy. Here, I -- I know -- look, everybody's trying to write the history of this administration even before it's over. I'm reading about George Washington still. My attitude is if they're still analyzing number one, 43 ought not to worry about it, and just do what he think is right, and make the tough choices necessary. We're in the beginning stages of an ideological struggle. It's going to last a while. And I want to make sure this country is engaged in a positive and constructive way to secure the future for our children. And it's going to be a tough battle.”

(Bush then mentions Medicare reform and No Child Left Behind, and asserts that he’s cut the deficit while lowering taxes – yeah, I know – but let’s stay on point.)

“So there's been a lot of accomplishments. But the true history of any administration is not going to be written until long after the person is gone. And it's just impossible for short-term history to accurately reflect what has taken place. Most historians, you know, probably had a political preference. And so their view isn't exactly objective -- most short-term historians. And it's going to take awhile for people to analyze mine, or any other of my predecessors', until down the road, when they're able to take -- you know, watch the long march of history and determine whether or not the decisions made during the eight years I was president have affected history in a positive way.”

Get it? He doesn’t have to listen to any criticism while he’s alive, even. Because we don’t understand him. No one can. Because our minds are too firmly rooted in the horror of the present, and “short-term” historians are all against him. According to him, it’s going to take many, many years before history will gain the kind of hindsight that can judge the brilliance of his deeds.

But what I really want to know is, if Bush is a genius in some far off, distant future, can we just bury him in some kind of time capsule and send him there? You know, stick him in a box with an iPod, a McRib sandwich, some hair extensions and a copy of Maxim, and let some future society figure that shit out?