Snow: Polls Don't Dictate Bush's Policies

Hmm...

WASHINGTON - President Bush understands there is growing U.S. concern over his handling of the Iraq war but will not rely on polls to determine when to withdraw troops, his spokesman said Sunday.

"The president understands how a war can wear on a nation," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "Whatever the bleakness is, whatever the facts are on the ground, you figure out how to win. You can't do that by reading polls."

"Most people realize simply pulling out would be an absolute unmitigated disaster," Snow said. . . .

Snow, speaking on three Sunday talk shows, said Bush has confidence the new Iraqi government under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will take on a greater role in the coming months to deal with unrest and sectarian violence in the region.

"The United States is not going to leave until the Iraqi government wants us to leave and the job is done," Snow said. "As the Iraqis become more able, the Americans are going to move back into support roles and at some point, we are going to be able to leave Iraq."

To me this resolve on the part of President Bush - this "stick to my guns" mentality - is a mark of true leadership, and is a refreshing breath of fresh air after nearly a decade of Bill Clinton's rule-by-opinion-poll approach to leadership.

Public opinion is a fickle thing. We are very much a "what have you done for me lately" culture here in America, yet our leaders cannot approach the offices they hold with nearly such a cavalier attitude. They make decisions that can impact both our nation and the world for decades to come.

As an example of this, consider America's 1993 military operations in Somalia under President George H.W. Bush and then later President Clinton. In the Battle of Mogadishu (made famous by the movie Black Hawk Down) American forces were successful in completing their mission, but because two of our helicopters were shot down and 19 soldiers died (one of whom was dragged through the streets by Somali fighters) the public perception of the mission (steered largely by intense media coverage of the downed choppers and the desecration of one of our fallen soldier's bodies) was that it was a failure. This despite our troops having achieved their objective and only losing 19 soldiers while inflicting casualties estimated from 500 to 2,000 on the enemy.

Because President Clinton was a leader who was very concerned about public opinion polls, he decided to act on these negative perceptions of the mission and cut-and-run from Somalia. This decision has had ramifications ever since.

In 1994 President Clinton avoided interfering in the Rwandan genocide for fear of another Mogadishu taking place and tarnishing his public opinion record. Clinton also adopted the "air power alone" approach to U.S. military intervention for Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1999 (to less-than-satisfactory results in each instance) out of a fear of losing American troops in battle, again an ode to his desire to avoid negative media attention that would impact his approval numbers.

Clinton's vanity on public opinion has even had repercussions beyond his term in office. In 1998 Osama bin Laden pointed to Americas cut-and-run from Somalia as the point at which he became certain that American soldiers were "paper tigers" who would "after a few blows" run away "in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies" of their fellow soldiers.

I don't think we can blame the 9/11 attacks on Clinton's wobbly foreign policy decisions alone, but certainly we can point to them as having emboldened people like bin Laden in their desire to attack us. Had Clinton been a little more concerned about sound foreign policy and a little less concerned about his public image the twin towers might still be standing in New York.

Obviously, our leaders should be cognizant of the ebb and tide of public opinion...but it is foolish to expect them to rule based upon it. The polls that matter to our politicians should be the official ones that include all Americans and put leaders in office or cast them out of office, not those that are done by professional pollsters and only include a thousand or so Americans who still have landlines and are willing to take 15 minutes out of their day to answer questions for a stranger on the phone.

You can read more from Rob Port at SayAnythingBlog.com