[Mo1]

The very first question President Ronald Reagan was asked at his first presidential press conference concerned El Salvador. The question: Did he think it was going to turn into another Vietnam? Democrats invoked Vietnam with every other sentence during the long and nasty controversy about aiding the resistance in Nicaragua.

It's the only line liberals know to say

[plangent]

Vietnam was unwinnable because of the McNamara Doctrine:

You may not win: you may only fight to a draw. You may not pursue the enemy into his territory. You may not search out and destroy the enemy; you must let the enemy come to you.

I haven't seen any indication that President Bush plays by McNamara rules.