Yesterday, President Bush on the "Today" show:

"When Mr. Lauer asked him about the war on terrorism, Mr. Bush replied, 'I don't think you can win it.' The president went on to say, 'I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.'"

Today to the American Legion-

"We meet today in a time of war for our country, a war we did not start yet one that we will win,...In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table, but make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win."

That's funny. I was about to agree with President Bush yesterday, but he quickly reversed his position.
Of course, every politician is expected to say that the war on terror is winnable. Terror is not something physical though, it's not something you win against. You can make serious progress against its prevalence in the world, but it's a continual struggle, and we should acknowledge it as such. I don't know how many people actually believe that there'll be a time when we can say, "Hey, terror is gone".

Democrats of course jump to say that Bush doesn't have a plan to win the war on terror, and while I'll be the first to question Bush's leadership in the war on terror, I don't think that his statement means that he is suddenly doubting his own leadership in this war. He's not really one for self-criticism, and so I was surprised that Bush abandoned his "we'll win against any force" rhetoric for some reasonable words, but my surprise was brief. He quickly jumped back into it today