Oh No, We’re Winning

It started when I was at lunch with my oldest daughter on Saturday at the local Irish pub. The restaurant was quiet, and television set at the bar was tuned to CNN. The news story was about how the month of July has seen some real changes in Iraq. The subtitle was something like “Iraq: A New Positive Trend”. My turkey sandwich waited untouched on the plate while I watched a news story that talked about increasing stability and fewer deaths, both among Iraqi and U.S. forces. Several other patrons were also gazing at the television, confused.

Obviously there was a problem in the CNN newsroom – weekend staffers, probably, or producers who sent out a confusing memo about editorial direction. Obviously this was an anomaly, and soon enough staffers from Pelosi’s office or the Hillary campaign would call their friends at CNN and express confusion and surprise that they would choose to focus on these positive details when, let’s be honest (they would say), the Bush administration’s efforts are obviously a failure – and thank you very much for not reporting anything positive, since otherwise the progressive Left will have nothing whatsoever to talk about, no flag around which to rally, and besides – they might look a little foolish. C’mon, CNN. Are you trying to be Fox News?

The mantra is as follows: Bush and the Republicans screwed everything up, and we’ve lost already in Iraq. Even if momentary evidence is to the contrary, even if the trend is changing, the mantra must be repeated, at least until 2008, at which point a counter-narrative can be constructed which credits any positive news to the new Democrat administration, and blames any lingering bad news on the previous manager. Repeating anything else besides the mantra creates cognitive dissonance. Stick with the program.

Now, two guys from the most pre-eminent liberal think-tank (and noted war critics, previously) are writing in the New York Times about a genuine turnaround in Iraq, and the need to continue the surge until 2008? Have the spheres come off their celestial rails? Does my GOP-issued tin foil hat need to be taken in for repairs? Next thing you know they'll be telling us the economy is in good shape, unemployment is at record lows, and some of the "prosperity gap" numbers ignore any inconvenient counter-trends, notably the fact that achievement in education and basic hard work are still the best predictors of success regardless of the economic layer of society to which you were born.

Isn't everything supposed to be going downhill? Aren't we supposed to be losing? Won't some people be horribly confused if they are deprived of their right to complain incessantly? If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention, right? How does that work when there are positive news stories about the war on CNN?