Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today:

1. What's Next for Iraq? - Ideas from Lieberman, McCain, and Bush
2. How about That New Democratic Senate? - Optimism from Minority Leader McConnell

What's Next for Iraq?

President Bush announced his new plans for Iraq in a speech from the White House Wednesday night. It is a far reaching set of recommendations to change the current military, political, and economic policies in Iraq. It is being paraded around as the "last best hope" by cautious Republicans, bashed as "more of the same" by the anti-Bush Democrats, skeptically scorned by conservative Republicans like John Derbyshire at the Corner on National Review Online who asked what would happen if we did not get cooperation from Shia or Sunni in Iraq: "Or else... what?". Other conservatives have described it as "tactical tweaks", as Paul Mirengoff at Powerline Blog commented. Is it just "Hot Air...masquerading as resolve" as Gregory Djerejian suggests at The Belgravia Dispatch

I'm convinced that the President's ideas are the right steps for the current situation. I'm just wondering, if they are so terrific, why we had to wait until now to implement them. I'm sure high hopes for Republican victories in November drove some of the delay, with personnel decisions and Army planning driving the rest. But here we are, with high hopes for the proposed changes.

I'm going to play several audio clips today from the President's remarks later. But first I will play an excerpt from a presentation made at the American Enterprise Institute on January 5 that included AEI scholar Frederick W. Kagan and former acting Army chief of staff General Jack Keane, along with a later presentation by Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-D-Conn.). These four gentlemen made an impassioned plea for the plan the President publicly advocated in his January 10 speech. The AEI talk was an excellent summary of what went wrong, and how to fix it, and in what order. First I will play an excerpt from Kagan's remarks, then come back with some comments.

Audio clip of Kagen at AEI

I recommend that you listen to all of his remarks. This section showed just the security aspect of the recommendations, and he also goes into political and economic plans for the country that make much more sense than what has been going on so far. Next up was General Jack Keane, who went into details on their counter-insurgency plans.

Audio clip of Keane at AEI

I also recommend that you listen to the rest of his remarks as well. Before I play the Lieberman and McCain clips, I want to play an excerpt from an NPR segment on Keane and the new senior US Military leader in Iraq, General David Petraeus. Keane served under Petraeus in Iraq and was full of praise for his former boss.

Audio clip of Keane on NPR

The NPR story on the web also includes the following interesting anecdote on Keane and Petraeus that for some reason did not make it into the audio portion of the radio show:

During a training exercise, Keane recalls, an accidental rifle shot hit Petraeus in the chest. Keane held his hand as he was flown to a nearby hospital. A surgeon named Bill Frist, who would later become Senate Majority Leader, was pulled off a golf course to treat him.

A few days after surgery, Petraeus demanded to be released. A doctor told him that it was impossible to release him so soon after major surgery. According to Kaine, Petraeus told the doctor to take out the tubes and then got down on the floor and did 50 pushups. The hospital sent him home.

Hooah! indeed.

After a short lunch break, the AEI meeting continued with prepared remarks by John McCain . I'll play the first 4-5 minutes of those remarks.

Audio clip of McCain at AEI

Note how Senator McCain has a laundry list of changes that need to be undertaken in Iraq for us to be successful. Whenever you hear someone say that this is just the "same old thing", remember that it is not anything like the same thing. There are substantial changes being proposed here. Next up, Senator Lieberman spoke without prepared text, and I'll include the first 4-5 minutes of his discussion.

Audio clip of Lieberman at AEI

"Tentacles of Iran all over the region." Let's get moving! We need to address Iran and Syria. Do you suppose President Bush is aware of this threat? Listen to this clip from the President's remarks last night. This is about 2/3 of the way through, after he describes the increase in military forces, and also the reconstruction efforts. Thanks to WhiteHouse.Gov for the video and transcript.

Audio clip of President Bush's Wednesday night speech

You'd almost think the President is anointing his successor in McCain and Lieberman.

McCain and Lieberman. Lieberman and McCain. Hmm. I like the sound of that. Dual Presidency. What a kick.

How about That New Democratic Senate?

The new Minority Leader in the Senate is Mitch McConnell, Republican from Kentucky. Senator McConnell is well respected conservative with vast experience in the body, having been elected in 1984. He comes to the leadership post from one on the Rules Committee. I can't think of a better person to gum up the works in the Senate and stymie Harry Reid than Senator McConnell. He is also blog savvy, having had two conference calls with bloggers in the last three days. I listened to a replay of one pointed to by Powerline Blog on 1/4. I'm just going to play two clips from the question and answer section of that call. The first is a question about amendments, which the Senator uses as an opportunity to explain Senate procedures. On the second clip, he talks about power and minority status to reassure the bloggers that the Senate is in very good hands indeed, even with Reid in the majority.

Audio clip of McConnell's conference call

McConnell will get his first test when Harry Reid tries to ram through his resolution in opposition to President Bush's "surge". Thanks to the New York Times for the priceless photo of Reid preparing to be abducted by aliens. From Reuters on Thursday night we read:

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Thursday he expects to have the votes, with the support of some Republicans, to pass a resolution opposing President George W. Bush's proposal to increase troops in Iraq.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, refused to offer a prediction on the outcome of the vote.

And that's it for now podcatchers. I'm Charlie Quidnunc signing off from a very cold, windy, and icey Portland Oregon.