See Saw — Up & Down

Picture from Wikipedia, modified

By Harvey Tobkes

Do you remember in your childhood riding a seesaw, some called it a teeter-totter?. I feel American public opinion is riding on one end and president Bush’s Iraq war is on the other. The one who is up in the air is the loser. Bush at one point, was in command of the board in the down position and lately he is precariously balancing somewhere below the middle. When the weight of doubt becomes a little heavier Bush will be up in the air just as Lyndon Johnson was. The comparison is unavoidable because when Johnson sent our troops into a Vietnam quagmire, he had no exit plan, no strategy for winning. We were not concerned about the outcome because we erroneously thought our troops were tougher, better trained, equipped with the latest weapons and technology and they were Americans…we don’t lose wars.

As we all know from real life, noble thoughts and efforts are not always successful, and after all this time, Iraq is more dysfunctional than ever. So, we get the uneasy feeling that American lives are being lost in vain, and we are spending ourselves into a financial hole.

When public opinion gets heavy enough, the seesaw and gravity will have its way, and not until then will we see any significant change in our policy or our casualties.