Elusive Victories_ The American Presidency at War-Oxford University Press (2012)

c onclusion 359

do not go well and the fi ghting continues, popular approval purchased
on the cheap proves a weak link in the arsenal a president needs to
bring the war to a successful conclusion. Once the public turns its back
on the war, a commander in chief has been eff ectively disarmed. Victory
will always be beyond his grasp.