Rhetoric trumps reality

The airwaves abound with discussion of "timelines" and "benchmarks," "cut and run" and "stay the course," "tipping point" and "last throes." And--this is awful to behold--TV pundits readily acknowledge, without critical comment, any significant change in "boots-on-the-ground reality" in Iraq must await America's election. I wonder what it would feel like to be the mother of a child who was killed or injured in the interim.