Bush to Acknowlege Mistakes, Tout Iraq Success

March 17, 2006 — -- The White House knows the news media pays a lot of attention to anniversaries, and the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq War is no exception.

President Bush's aides also know some of that coverage, maybe a lot of it, will be negative. So, the White House has its own public relations offensive under way. First up is Bush's radio address on Saturday, then a speech to a nonpartisan group in Cleveland on Monday, the day after the anniversary. Another speech will follow on Wednesday. None of this effort may do the president any good in the polls, but as one adviser put it: "You gotta do something. You can't just sit there and let your opponents dominate news coverage of the war."

Several Republicans in Congress have complained recently that the Bush White House is tone deaf on a number of important political issues. But on the issue of Iraq, even Bush critics admit the president "gets it."

Time and again Bush has tried to persuade Americans that the war is not only winnable but also worth the costs of victory. The public, though, has been more impressed by what it sees on television. Republican pollsters say that until there is better news from Iraq, Bush's speeches may have little impact. In other words, they say, the old cliché is true: A picture is worth a 1,000 words, or maybe much more than that.

One poll after another reflects American dissatisfaction with the war. A new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll shows that six in 10 believe the war has had a negative impact, that it is going badly. That's a far cry from polls a month after the invasion, which reflected overwhelming confidence that the war had gone well. Iraq has also helped drive down the president's personal popularity. A new Pew poll shows his approval at only 33 percent, a career low from major polling organizations.

According to a senior administration official, the president will spell out on Monday what he believes are Iraqi success stories that have been ignored while the news media focused on death and destruction.