Al Gore makes a striking point in his op-ed in the New York Times today:

If Mr. Bush is not willing to concede that things are going from bad to worse in Iraq, can he be trusted to make the decisions necessary to change the situation? If he insists on continuing to pretend it is “mission accomplished,” can he accomplish the mission? And if the Bush administration has been so thoroughly wrong on absolutely everything it predicted about Iraq, with the horrible consequences that have followed, should it be trusted with another four years?

Gore has Bush in a Catch 22. He can’t admit that things are getting worse in Iraq and can’t pretend that things are getting better. The reality for Bush is less tricky. He just has to convince voters that his plan for Iraq (essentially, kill insurgents and don’t postpone elections) is better than his opponent’s. If Kerry keeps on saying the solution to our problems is sharing the burden with France and Germany, Bush shouldn’t have too much difficulty.