I listened to the Vice President on the Imus in the Morning radio program, yesterday. The questions were soft and so the interview a waste of time for the rest of us. Even in the soft pillow atmosphere, the Vice President answered the ubiquitous question about why we went to war if there weren’t any weapons of mass destruction. The Vice President is better than most on this question.

First, he never entirely gives up on the point. After all, just because we didn’t find any doesn’t mean that there weren’t any. And, even if there weren’t any, Hussein would have made them just as soon as free to do so. In other words, Hussein was the mother of all weapons of mass destruction. As for actually going to war, the V.P. asked what if we had been wrong the other way. What if we did nothing and there were weapons? What would we be saying then?

Working backwards, while the V.P. thought it was better to be wrong the way we were wrong, rather than being wrong the other way, he made no mention of the possibility that could have ever been right. Now, doesn’t that give you a feeling of confidence?

While Hussein was about as bad as they get, he wasn’t an immediate danger, was he? We could have kept him boxed in, while we continued to pursue bin Laden. In fact, had 9/11 not taken place, was there a hint that we were planning to invade Iraq because Hussein was a murderer? And even if that was the intention of the government, perhaps they could have taken some time to make sure of their intelligence, planning, preparedness and diplomacy, all badly lacking as things have worked out.

Finally, if we did not locate weapons stockpiles that did exist, then we either made a dangerous situation worse or will be leaving a potentially dangerous situation if we ever actually leave Iraq. But, the V.P. keeps repeating the same rhetoric.

The Bush Administration operates as some sort of revival meeting. But, despite having sent him back to office, if you can believe the polls (itself an act of faith), the public no longer thinks invading Iraq was worth it, and only half the public thinks he is doing a good job. This term, it will not be enough to be less wrong on the issues; the President will have to find something to be right about.