The burden is on Bush to make that case to the American people, and he seemed to acknowledge as much Tuesday night. Nearly 700 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq (though not all in combat). Eighty-three U.S. troops have died in Iraq in the first 12 days of April, more than were killed in the same number of days at the start of the war. Iraqi insurgents are holding more than 40 hostages, and the mutilated remains of four bodies -- likely those of missing American contractors -- were discovered in Iraq Tuesday. Bush's approval ratings are at an all-time low, and polls show Americans losing confidence fast in the way he is handling the war. "There's no question it's been a tough, tough series of weeks for the American people," Bush said Tuesday. "It's been really tough for the families. I understand that. It's been tough on this administration."

It may soon get tougher. While Sen. John Kerry was initially slow to attack Bush as Iraq fell into chaos, he has begun to speak out forcefully on the need for Bush to "level" with the American people and put forth a clear plan for success in Iraq. In a Washington Post Op-Ed piece Tuesday, Kerry said: "Increasingly, the American people are confused about our goals in Iraq, particularly why we are going it almost alone. The president must rally the country around a clear and credible goal."

Try as he might, the president didn't do that Tuesday night. Bush's much-awaited Feb. 8 appearance on "Meet the Press" did not reverse his downward slide on Iraq, and his shaky performance in the question-and-answer portion of Tuesday's show is unlikely to serve him any better.

It could have been worse. Bush wasn't asked about the economy. He wasn't asked about the White House's release Tuesday of the tax returns for the Bush and Cheney families -- returns that underscored the fact that Bush's tax cuts disproportionately help wealthy Americans like, say, Bush and Cheney. And he wasn't asked about the 9/11 commission staff report Tuesday that quoted a former acting FBI director who said that, in the summer of 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft didn't want to hear warnings of terrorist attacks.

Still, when Bush wasn't avoiding questions or declining the opportunity to take responsibility for administration actions on Sept. 11 or Iraq, he was stumbling through his usual fumbles and malaprops. He misidentified Donald Rumsfeld as the secretary of state. He referred to the Pakistani nuclear trading network headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan as a "shadowy network of 'folks'" and said that Saddam Hussein had "funded 'suiciders.'" He proclaimed that "a free Iraq in the midst of the Middle East will have incredible change." And when asked about the domestic political ramifications of the war in Iraq, the president rather indelicately explained, "Look, nobody likes to see dead people on their television screens."

Nobody likes it, Bush said, but America can't alter its course now. The president made a threat, and he had to follow through. He started a war, and he has to finish it. U.S. soldiers have died in that war, and now they can't be allowed to die in vain. "We're carrying out a decision that has already been made and will not change," Bush explained. Was it the right decision? Where will it lead? How much more will it cost? On Tuesday night, these were questions for which the president had few answers.

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