Milbanking

So there's a Thurberesque word, "milbanking." Goes along with "Dowdify." "Mr. Smith, after a long look at the financial pages, decided to go out milbanking for the morning."

In this case, the Post's Designated Democratic Mouthpiece (courtesy Powerline) emphasizes the political aspects of the President's trip to the front lines. "But one thing is certain. Bush's Thanksgiving Day surprise ties him, for better or worse, ever more tightly to the outcome of the Iraq struggle."

Well, yes. But that's mostly the Democrats' choice, not Bush's. He was there as the Commander-in-Chief, the representative of the civlian leadership, and the country as a whole, something that no mere senator could accomplish, ahem. The Democrats have chosen to make this a political issue, to move their party away from support for the war and into opposition to it. If they were supportive of the war and its aims, by definition the President's visit would have been less political.

One other thing. The symbolism of the President serving dinner to the troops is outstanding. It says, "I'm here to make your job easier. I work for you, not the other way round."