THE BOLD AND THE BOLDER

Our Maximum Leader's secret mission to Iraq, described as bold even by some of his critics, had all the trappings of a novelty act. Anyone who believes for a minute that the White House arranged it for the troops is living on another planet.

The lights-out landing, Our Maximum Leader in the cockpit of Air Force One watching the pilots bring him in, his impersonation of a cocktail-party waiter serving turkey on a platter, the widely reported tear on hischeek (stilted grin notwithstanding) had satirical "Daily Show" skit written all over it. (See "Mess O'Potamia.") More than an act of bold presidential leadership, it was political farce meant to erase the bad karma of the "Mission Accomplished" banner.

And how about those historical sidebars? The perspective on Our Maximum Leader's heroics in The New York Times and on NBC's Nightly News recalling Lincoln's visits to Antietem and Richmond during the Civil War, Roosevelt's shipboard meeting with Churchill during World War II and Johnson's wartime trip to Vietnam were so informative it sounded (even if it wasn't) like a story idea fed to the press by the White House PR staff. So what if the Thanksgiving surprise was less scary or momentous? The story gets Our Maximum Leader's name in lights on the same marquee: Lincoln, Roosevelt, Johnson and now Bush. That's showbiz.

Consequently, with more troops dying than ever, Iraq is becoming an obligatory stop on the circuit, much like the TV talk shows. Hilary Clinton stuck her two cents in with a visit that lasted 10 hours, which put her in a bolder category than Our Maximum Leader, whose boldness lasted two and a half hours.

POSTSCRIPT from the Good Call department: "Can a stealth holiday trip make us forget the premature 'Mission Accomplished'?" That's the pullquote of the lead article in the Week in Review section of Sunday's New York Times. But you'll have to take my word for it. The pullquote is writ large above the fold in the print edition. It has disappeared, however, from the online version.