Politics & Power Quote by Nick Clooney

“Conventional wisdom” is doing the heavy lifting here, and that’s the tell. By outsourcing the claim to a vague collective, the line shields itself from accountability while borrowing the prestige of presumed expertise. It’s a classic Washington move: treat ambiguity as prudence and present deference to consensus as seriousness.

The specific intent is to preempt a policy demand - a timetable for withdrawal - by framing it as naïve before the argument even arrives. “Holds that” signals that the speaker isn’t merely offering an opinion but invoking an establishment verdict. And the word “mistake” is carefully calibrated: moral enough to warn, technocratic enough to avoid admitting to fear. A timetable becomes not a strategy but an error, something careless people do.

The subtext is about control: who gets to define responsibility in a war that’s slipped its original rationale. A timetable threatens to convert an open-ended occupation into something measurable, and measurement invites judgment. If you set a date, you can miss it. If you never set one, you can always claim conditions aren’t right. That’s not just political hedging; it’s a structural escape hatch.

Context matters: this is Iraq-era rhetoric shaped by the trauma of “cut and run” accusations and by the belief that public commitment itself affects insurgent behavior and ally confidence. Invoking “conventional wisdom” signals allegiance to the bipartisan security mainstream, while quietly dampening democratic impatience. It’s language built to keep options open - and keep critics on the defensive.