The quagmire was no in Vietnam; instead, it was a product of the leaders failure to implement their determination to win.
There was much pomp and circumstance about being there, but not winning there, in the trenches, by way of using what works.
There were a lot of programs and plans and authors of same, all of whom wanted to do their part at their office, but not be up late getting dirt under their fingernails.
There was so much unwillingness to see the thing through --- the thing being each leader's repsonsibility to see to it that their bright idea actually worked.
No ... there was just the issuance of directives and orders and photo ops, instead of following up each step of all such leaders' pet processes, double-checking on these, themselves, sticking their own necks out on the line.
Yes, some did; but, most did not.
Those who had a good sense of what worked, were an embarrassment to those on high whose "positions" were not so effective or more often, near-complete failures. The "higher-ups" were more interested in "dealing with" such up-and-coming heroes in the trenches, than admitting their own failures.
A President has to be able to identify what works.
A President has to have a command structure that permits the flow of such information inspite of the wounded egos that would obstruct such a flow.
A President and the people need to see the results also showing up in the news media.
Where are those stories?
Not much, anywhere. There are so many corporate-minded egos in the Bush [still running 41% of the Clinton] Administration, that are oversensitive to what is not working, that it's not that easy for the news hounds to get a whiff of what is going right.
That was a major problem for us, in Vietnam.