Losing The Perception War

Writing in the Chicago Sun Times, Mary Laney gets it right:

There are those who would like to set a date by which we will withdraw American troops. That's like playing poker and telling which cards you have and when you intend to play them. It doesn't work in war.

The news out of Iraq is bad, but the facts out of Iraq are good. Laney points at the sources of thise problem: Revisionist Dems, anti-war media, and president Bush.

I agree with all three. There's not much we can do about the first two, but it seems like we should be able to pressure the president to do something about his own contribution to the problem. He's teaching us you can be winning the ground war and air war, but unless you win the perception war, you're in trouble.

Laney has a suggestion:

There's too much static noise out there regarding the war. It's filling a vacuum caused by the administration's failure to keep us regularly updated on what is happening throughout Iraq. It's time for the Bush administration to step up and tell us what is going on -- with regular reports, weekly updates, fireside chats, talks with soldiers -- through the entire country of Iraq.

We're getting our reports from hotel rooms in Baghdad. It's time for the whole story from over there.

The milblogs are doing just that, but they're not mainstreaming into America's living rooms; they're not defining the debate. So it's up to the Administration. It started with its initiative last week, but that's got to be just a beginning.

h/t RCP