Commiseration.

Small talk between doctors, nurses and other staff is a common occurrence in surgery to keep the gravity of what transpires during procedures from overwhelming them. Patients are usually under anesthetic agents during these colloquial moments which rarely involve the patient at all. Today one of the surgeons came up with a pithy idea. He mentioned the idea that it's easy to take the wind out of a critic's sails by declaring a preemptive self-derogatory remark. His thinking is that when anyone is looking to negatively criticize your actions or thinking put yourself down first and lessen the blow. After all, if you announce your awareness that improvements can be made, most any further comments would come across as redundant.

As President Bush unveiled his renewed strategy as to the conflict in Iraq (a long awaited response after the release of the Hamilton-Baker lead Iraq Study Group report) I was reminded of the surgeon’s comments. The main word or “preemptive” was lacking in the blame President Bush assigned to himself in tonight’s address:

"The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people -- and it is unacceptable to me. Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me"
-President G. W. Bush.

Despite admitting that a build-up of troops over a year ago would have been a better strategy, it is clear that tonight’s admission is too late for any kind of redemption. His speech was not full of surprises, thanks to the vastly integrated media and internet pundits given ample time to chew over the Report and speak to White House insiders.

In short, tonight the President made no converts and that increasing the U.S. troop deployment by 21,500 will do little to solve anything that is, has been or ever will be going wrong since the March 2003 invasion. What’s missing from the concept of self-degradation is the idea that timing is the crucial component in receiving the sympathetic ear while preventing stares of disappointment.