It's become common for neoconservative pundits to declare that we've "won the war," as Bill Kristol did the other day in a debate over Bush's eventual legacy. And of course we haven't "won the war." Iraq is not a stable democracy. The Sunni and the Shiites have not come to an enduring reconciliation. We have not left, and so there is no proof the country can stand without our forces propping it up. But as Andrew Sullivan correctly argues, this isn't about the war. It's about Obama, and controlling the narrative of the war's end. "What [Rove] and Kristol are doing is declaring victory for Bush prematurely so they can attack Obama for throwing that victory away," says Sullivan. This isn't winning the war, it's managing the impact of the loss by blaming it on someone else. But then, that's what Kristol and Rove do. They don't know how to win wars. They know how to win arguments.
