Numbers

The new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll came out today, and the numbers show that as time goes by more and more Americans are siding with the Democrats and turning away from Bush.

The numbers are astounding. And revealing.

56 Percent now say they want to see a firm date for withdrawing American troops from Iraq. 37 Percent say they're still with Bush. The numbers of Americans who believe victory in Iraq isn't possible is about the same as the number who want a withdrawal date.

The war is probably the biggest cause of the very sour mood in the country, with only 22 percent of Americans saying that the country is on the right track.

While Bush still has his hard-core, never-say-die adherents and echoes who believe every word he says, their numbers continue to shrink. In my 62-year life I've never seen this kind of disaffection and alienation from an American administration.

The depth of anger was somewhat similar under Nixon, but somehow the dissatisfaction didn't go as deep because people tended to think the problem was Nixon, not a systemic dysfunction. I'm not old enough to remember Truman's big slide in the public's estimation. And people's attitude toward Johnson tended to be less intense than their dislike of Bush. Americans didn't start really hating the Vietnam War in large numbers until long after Johnson was gohnson.

Americans now hate the Iraq War and hate Bush, and that's not going to change.

I don't know what's going to happen. Nobody does. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if George W. Bush doesn't finish his second term. Things are beginning to really heat up in the Democratic Congress. I think they're planning to take this administration apart piece by piece.

If that's what they do, it will be fun to watch. My only problem with all this is that it looks like many of us, once again, have been lulled into thinking that things will really change significantly when the Democrats assume full power. I believe we're collectively going to be extremely disappointed.