From Sen. Richard Lugar's column in today's Washington Post:
We need to recast the geo-strategic reference points of our Iraq policy. Some commentators have compared the Bush plan to a "Hail Mary" pass in football -- a desperate heave deep down the field by a losing team at the end of the game. Actually, a far better analogy for the Bush plan is a draw play on third down with 20 yards to go in the first quarter. The play does have a chance of working if everything goes perfectly, but it is more likely to gain a few yards and set up a punt on the next down, after which the game can be continued under more favorable circumstances.
Can any of you make heads or tails of that? I can't. Calling a draw on 3rd and 20 sounds pretty close to insane (or at least wildly risky), being happy to turn the ball (control) over to your opponent strikes me as odd (you can't win that way, barring a safety), and why on Earth think of this as the 1st quarter? I am quite perplexed by this comparison.
Posted by armand at January 30, 2007 10:07 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Iraq | Politicsi prefer to think of it as a 70-yard field goal into a stiff headwind with no time on the clock when down by four points. or a coach putting a 9-player defense on the field (without helmets) instead of the 7 players he has been using for the first three quarters.
Posted by: moon at January 30, 2007 10:39 AM | PERMALINKWe should allow at least a theoretical chance for success. You've got the ball on your own twenty yard line, there are seven seconds left in the fourth quarter, you're down by three points, and your quarterback's last name is not Brady or Manning -- and your kicker's last name is not Vinatieri.
Posted by: jacflash at January 30, 2007 11:54 AM | PERMALINKWe're playing field position! Of course, the field is littered with tens of thousands of corpses, but don't let that bother anyone.
Posted by: norbizness at January 30, 2007 01:04 PM | PERMALINKi rather liked my 9/7 analogy. and hey, even then there's a chance that someone will cause a turnover and return the recovery / INT for a TD.
Posted by: moon at January 30, 2007 05:06 PM | PERMALINK