President . . .er, Senator Kerry Speaks!

From the pages of the New York Times, Senator Kerry makes some suggestions on what President Bush should say in tonight's address. It's certainly a worthwhile read.

So what should the president say tonight? The first thing he should do is tell the truth to the American people. Happy talk about the insurgency being in "the last throes" leads to frustrated expectations at home. It also encourages reluctant, sidelined nations that know better to turn their backs on their common interest in keeping Iraq from becoming a failed state.

This one is dead on. Vice President Cheney's comments were laughably unrealistic.

He also makes several other suggestions, specifically proposing we set a time-table for leaving. The Bush Administration portrays this as us telling terrorists all they have to do is hang out this period of time and they have the run of the country. I don't know if that is necessarily true - but what such a message also says is that the future of the Iraq is in the hands of the Iraqi people rather than the hands of America.