How 'Bout Some Leadership Mr President

And to think that voters supposedly voted for the stronger candidate. Grieving parents of a fallen Marine urged President Bush to show some leadership on Iraq.

Ohioans Urge U.S. Escalation Or Pullout:

"CLEVELAND, Aug. 16 -- The day after burying their son, parents of a fallen Marine urged President Bush to either send more reinforcements to Iraq or withdraw U.S. troops altogether.

'We feel you either have to fight this war right or get out,' said Rosemary Palmer, mother of Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder II."

He clearly needs to fire Rumsfeld, who is wasting human lives trying to prove a point, that Iraq can be won and controlled with his sleek new stripped down fighting force. Meanwhile, months after Rumsfeld told reporters and an inquiring soldier that the lack of proper armor was a matter of "physics" rather than leadership or will, reports from Iraq indicate that soldiers still don't have the right ceramic inserts for their body armor. This is a president who has never asked any sacrifice of the American people since 9/11 even though they were clearly ready to give it. He has cut taxes. He has passed spending initiatives without designating revenues for them. He won't put the proper amount of troops on the ground in Iraq. The armed forces are already overstretched. And recruitment is dangerously falling short of current needs. His response? "I'm gonna get on with my life." Frank Rich is right. It's probably too late for Bush to turn to the American people now and ask them to make some sacrifices and to get the wherewithall together to put enough troops on the ground in Iraq. Too bad, because the option it eventually leaves him is one no one likes. A bad exit from Iraq, leaving it to an uncertain future. Iran ascendant in the region. Muslim fundamentalists oppressing ethnic minorities and women in his new democracy.