Bush's Iraq press conference

Just got done watching President Bush's press conference on Iraq - see some tidbits here (bias warning) and here.

I find myself at distinct odds with both the President and the Democrats on this issue, and I wonder if it's just me or not. From my personal experience in the corporate world, I have yet to see a project that doesn't have the potential to be managed well, but neither option I'm seeing considered at our highest levels is even close to ideal.

I completely disagree with the mass abandonment of Iraq that lots of Democrats seem to push for, but I also distrust Bush's refusal to put together a timeline, or at least the key deliverable gates that will determine when we shift into a next phase. And go one step further - detail how those deliverable gates fit into our overarching goals of stability and a phased withdrawal from Iraq, so that if an approach starts not to work well, we can consider adapting a different approach/timeline while driving in measurable ways toward the same consistent goal.

We deal with situations that are either decently structured or lead to dissatisfaction every day in the business world, and while that structuring does take work, it's not rocket science. If either party were to put forward a clear project plan on Iraq that meets our goals and shows how we'll measure success, they'd have my vote and the vote of everyone in my circle of influence.

On a related note, I think the members of the press that were there deserve some big kudos - I don't think I heard a single soft question. It was a refreshing alternative to other "correspondents" in the media.