I admit having not watched the Preznit’s speech last night. The Eagles-Giants replay was on NFL Network and I just couldn’t pass it up.

To be serious for a moment, I noted carefully the opinions of all the pundits going in, at least the ones Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann brought forward. (I’m an MSNBC kind of guy, I guess.) It seems to me a key point they all raised was that they did not expect that after Bush’s speech we would have a clear view of what “victory” meant. Their point was that in order for the American people to buy the need to throw 21,500 soldiers into harms way, the American people would need to know the goal, no matter how far-fetched. Of course, “victory” has always been a slippery sort of concept to the Bushies. It is a concept that demands one be measured against it, and the Bush Administration is not so myopic that it doesn’t understand how small it would look next to such a measurement. But last night Bush gave us a hint of a definition of “victory” in his speech:

Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship. But victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world — a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties, and answers to its people. A democratic Iraq will not be perfect. But it will be a country that fights terrorists instead of harboring them — and it will help bring a future of peace and security for our children and our grandchildren.

What does Bush mean? Victory will look nothing like the staged “Mission Accomplished” photos. He will not wear a flight suit, as that was a mistake, particularly in how it emphasized his manly bulge. Victory will not be stage-managed slogans and a whole bunch of patriotic photo-ops.

We knew that.

Also, victory according to the Preznit will be when Iraq stands up with a healthy democracy that “respects fundamental human liberties.” Let’s allow that sink in as we think of the words “Gitmo,” “Abu Ghraib,” “extraordinary rendition,” “unwarranted wiretapping,” etc. Don’t get too shaken up by Bush using the phrase “fundamental human liberties” with a straight face. He was wearing his lucky blue tie last night, and it evidently gives him special powers over such extreme hypocrisy.