Yeah, like "I'm not going to fire a 2 million dollar missle into a tent and hit some camel in the butt - when I move, it's going to be DECISIVE!!"
Gotta be the greatest line of the century; certainly the decade. Remember this response to your whining BS, Hill Baby?!
Well, that can cut both ways and seem "pre-text". Many thought Clinton's action in Sudan had a distracting, or ulterior purpose.
Plus I don't know how much a President's actions on a war, something most people think is, or should be, "non-partisan", would effect elections at lower levels.
People want to hear about bread and butter issues and why their stock values have dropped - things like that.