I missed President Bush's speech last night, but having read it over this morning, I think he nailed it, in particular this part:

"The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is 'return on success.' The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home. ...

... Yet those of us who believe success in Iraq is essential to our security, and those who believe we should bring our troops home, have been at odds. Now, because of the measure of success we are seeing in Iraq, we can begin seeing troops come home.

The way forward I have described tonight makes it possible, for the first time in years, for people who have been on opposite sides of this difficult debate to come together."

He's right, of course. Everybody wants the troops to come home, and his way, "return on success," does make it possible for the right and left to come together. What's missing from his proposal is a simple truth: those on the extreme left do not want success, they want defeat. Returning after success means that Bush has won the war, a totally unacceptable outcome for the left, both politically and, perhaps more interestingly, psychologically.

I don't believe the hard left can mentally handle victory in Iraq. They are so invested in defeat that a successful outcome would completely crash their world view, in which not only the war is wrong, but Bush is wrong, and all his decisions are wrong. They can't allow it. Therefore, they absolutely will not come together with the rest of the nation in embracing "return on success." The only outcome they will embrace is "return on defeat."

Thankfully, despite the mistakes President Bush and his administration have made in tackling the brutally tough situation in Iraq, he, General Petraeus, and Iraq are on the right track. Most of us are pleased.