The Tinkerbell Strategy

Clap your hands if you believe in fairies, Peter Pan tells us. If you believe, then the poison that Tinkerbell drank won’t be able to kill her.

On stage, Peter Pan was traditionally played by a woman and Tinkerbell, the fairy, was a tiny light that seemed to fly as stagehands danced the sparkly beam around the set. Today’s Pan is George W. Bush. Tinkerbell, still as insubstantial as that flitting light, is a democratic Iraq.

Just like the original Tink, this one has swallowed poison. In the real world, we’d know: we can’t save the suicidal from themselves, even if this was an assisted suicide and we measured out the fatal potion.

But this is Bush’s Never Never Land. Believe and we’ll somehow win, even though nobody seems to know what winning would look like.

Nevermind that even Bush acknowledged that America is not winning.

Nevermind that the presence of American troops is exacerbating the violence. Believe in a troop surge. Believe that, somehow, more war will bring peace. Believe or else.

Tinkerbell is counting on you.