A backwards “K” at the U.N.

After two days of meetings at the United Nations, the Bush administration came away with no new pledges of international troops or funds to assist with the securing and rebuilding of Iraq.

White House officials hastened to say that this wasn't a failure because the administration never actually tried to recruit new aid. "The president did not come here to ask people for troops," one unnamed aide said.

If you don't actually try, the reasoning seems to be, then you can't fail. Bush didn't swing and miss in his meetings with other heads of state, we are told. He just never took the bat off his shoulder.

So he went down looking. That's still an out.