Iraq

Anyone actually emboldened by the current state of "victory" in Iraq has got to be a goddamn fool. Iraq should be understood as a lesson about the limits of America's power, the intractable nature of Arab politics, the fickle nature of our allies, the incompetence of our intelligence services, and how highly divided partisan politics make waging war a terribly difficult prospect. There are some good things to come out of Iraq - a model for counterinsurgency, the empowerment of more amenable and reasonable Arab allies than Saddam Hussein (not saying a lot), confirmation Iraq is not a WMD threat, a battle field defeat to Al Queda (needed), training our troops for future fights in asymetric war.

Like almost everything in his life, Bush barely passed his biggest test, and only at the last minute. He made one good call at the end (the surge), fell into a little luck (Anbar Awakening), and through trial and error found the right men for the job - Gates, Crocker, and Patraeus. He was failing for most of the semester, got a B on the final exam and got a gentleman's C. I imagine his academic career was similar and his business career certainly was. The day the man gets out of office, he owes himself a drink.