Caution: Bar Lowering

Just a bit of realism.

No matter what the facts are, when September rolls around and Petraeus makes his now overly awaited report, there will be no clear answers. It will simply be another round of "despite the many challenges, we see good signs of progress."

U.S. military leaders in Iraq are increasingly convinced that most of the broad political goals President Bush laid out early this year in his announcement of a troop buildup will not be met this summer and are seeking ways to redefine success.....

Enactment of a new law to share Iraq's oil revenue among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions is the only goal they think might possibly be achieved in time, and even that is considered a long shot. The two other key benchmarks are provincial elections and a deal to allow more Sunni Arabs into government jobs.

With overhauls by the central government stalled and with security in Baghdad still a distant goal, Petraeus' advisors hope to focus on smaller achievements that they see as signs of progress, including deals among Iraq's rival factions to establish areas of peace in some provincial cities.

"Some of it will be infrastructure that is being worked, some of it is local security for neighborhoods, some of it is markets reopening," said a senior military official in Baghdad who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing military tactics.

This overemphasis on Petraeus' report allows Republicans two opportunities. It allows them to put off a decision now, and it allows them a "decision point" at which they can change their stance with the appearance of an evaluative judgement of facts rather than political pressure or agreeing with the Dems.

There will be no clear answer in September, at least not any clearer than it is today, but still, we're going to have to go through a "bloody -- it could be a very difficult" summer.

Related: Jennifer Loven writes for the AP on Bush's misstatements that the American people agree with him, comparing Bush's statements to polling which contradicts him.