Seriously, you could randomly pick any 10 people on the street and come up with the same conclusion the ISG reached. And this random group would go them one better, by making ironclad demands. Not suggestions or "ideas." Demands. Do this, or else. Some have praised the ISG report, but it was, in my view, nothing more than another stall tactic aimed at Planet Beltway's believers in magic, a place holder until the Bush Family can get the Idiot Son out of the White House and back on his fake ranch.

The ISG report was most succinctly described by Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi: "A veritable symphony of Typical Washington Bullshit. It has all the hallmarks of the pusillanimous, cover-your-ass mentality that rules our nation's capital, where all problems are political problems and actual real emergencies never make it to the desk of anyone who matters." The report will come to nothing because we have a madman at the helm of the nation, a man who still thinks something can be "won" in Iraq, a man whose approval rating may soon dip into the 20s and yet who still governs as if he has a mandate. Bush says he's "mulling ideas." Great. Go in a corner with the dunce cap and "mull" away, Mr. 30 Percent Approval Rating. The Democrats just won both houses of Congress. It is time for them to, in effect, tell Bush to bugger off and get down to fixing the mess without him.

Finally, the US is of one mind about Iraq. In the new reality-based reality, the difference between anti-war radicals and rabid neocon warmongers is that the latter would rather wait 18 months--as opposed to, say, an hour from now--before getting the hell out. Only nine percent of the public still thinks we can pound the resistance into submission, but who cares? Anyone that dumb is likely to die in some Darwin Award-nominated accident before he gets a chance to express another opinion.

Now that we know what works, let's stop deluding ourselves about the other unwinnable war. That's right--it's time to create an Afghanistan Study Group.

The corporate media have convinced the American public that candidates such as Kucinich are “out of the mainstream,” which is an outright lie. Their own polling shows the views of Kucinich are indeed mainstream. He wants universal health care, as do the majority of citizens. He wants to cut defense spending, as do the majority. He wants to clean up the environment, as do the overwhelming majority. He wants to bring the troops home from Iraq, as do the majority. You couldn’t be much more mainstream than Dennis Kucinich.

New Hampshire was recently brightened by the presence of Barack Obama, 45, who, calling the fuss about him "baffling," made his first trip in 45 years to that state, and not under duress. Because he is young, is just two years distant from a brief career as a state legislator and has negligible national security experience, an Obama presidential candidacy could have a porcelain brittleness. But if he wants to be president -- it will not be a moral failing if he decides that he does not, at least not now -- this is the time for him to reach for the brass ring. There are four reasons why.