Fireside Chats on Iraq? Why Not?

Senator John Warner recently made a very interesting suggestion. He wants President Bush to give the American public frequent updates about how the War in Iraq is going; as he noted this would be very similar to FDR's 'fireside chats' during World War II. But would this really be a good idea? The honest answer is yes. What does the President have to lose?

It seems that people want to hear what he has to say, or at least need to, since they are begining to become more unsure and unsupportive of the War by the day. Furthermore, it would provide an antidote to all the biased mainstream media coverage in Iraq these days. Instead of stories focusing on the bad, Bush would be able to focus on the positive, and give the American Public a new perspective on the War that they don't get from CBS. In fact, a 'fireside chat' type deal would play to Bush's strengths by enabling him to be more personable and casual with ordinary folks. Indeed, the perception of Bush as the 'average guy' has always proved to be an advantage for him, and this would be a great opportunity to play that card.

Part of what FDR was so good at during his Presidency was creating the right P.R image, a task at which the Bush administration has failed miserably this past year. 'Chatting' with the electorate about what is going on in Iraq would be a great opportunity to re-create the image. And quite honestly, how could it possibly hurt the President? The media can't spin the War any worse than they already have, his support for the War won't diminish any farther, and his P.R image can't really get much worse.

George Patton once said that success is a measure of how high you bounce when you hit the bottom. Mr President, you've hit the bottom, and maybe this 'chat' idea will get the bounce going.