Bush - "Those Liberal Democrats Were Right"

El - Well, no, he didn't come out and say it that way but the newspapers are getting the message.

This from the Orlando Sentinel -- Now, with two important moves, Bush has explained to the public what amounts to, first, a political about-face, and second, a concession to critics.

He was challenged on both counts during the first Democratic debate:

In pursuit of peace in Iraq, Bush is turning to the United Nations for the international support he could not win in pursuit of war.

"This president is going to have to go back to the very people he humiliated on our way into Iraq," said Howard Dean, a war opponent and ex-governor of Vermont who has an early advantage among Democrats running for president.

Sunday night, Bush said: "We are committed to expanding international cooperation in the reconstruction and security of Iraq. . . . I recognize that not all of our friends agreed with our decision. . . . Yet we cannot allow past differences to interfere with present duties."

Gephardt called this "long overdue. Now the president has recognized that he has been going down the wrong path."

In pursuit of money for the continuing fight and rebuilding of Iraq, Bush is revealing a price tag, a topic critics faulted him for averting before the invasion.

"There are several levels of failure of leadership here," U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, a decorated Vietnam War hero-turned-war protester, said in debate last week. "The president has failed to share with the American people the truth."

Sunday night, Bush said he needs $87 billion, including $66 billion for military and intelligence operations for a year, and money to rebuild Iraq: "Now and in the future, we will support our troops, and we will keep our word."