THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

And unless the Surge On General Petraeus tells Congress that the military effort is a total failure, his head is safe for the time being. Nope, this time the target of Our Dear Embattled Leader's feckless behavior is Maliki of Iraq.

When President Bush and Nuri Kamal al-Maliki stood side by side in Jordan last November, the president proclaimed the prime minister “the right guy for Iraq.”

By Tuesday, that phrase had all but evaporated from Mr. Bush’s lexicon.

Instead, Mr. Bush acknowledged “a certain level of frustration” with the Iraqi government’s failure to unify its warring ethnic factions. His comments at a meeting of North American leaders in Canada came just hours after the top American diplomat in Baghdad, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, called political progress in Iraq “extremely disappointing” and warned that United States support for the Maliki government did not come with a “blank check.”

It was not quite the vote of no confidence delivered by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the Democratic chairman of the Armed Services Committee, who on Monday said Mr. Maliki should quit. But it was a striking attempt by the White House to distance itself from the Maliki government before September, when the president’s troop buildup faces an intense review on Capitol Hill.

That timing is no coincidence. Mr. Bush is already facing skepticism within his own party over the troop buildup, and will almost certainly confront repeated attempts by Democrats to force an end to the war. So he seems to be laying the groundwork for a new message, one that says, “We’re doing our job in Iraq; don’t blame us if the Iraqis aren’t doing theirs.”

This way there lies no fault with the military or those that command them. But gentle reader, please do not be fooled. As in all things, these remarks are directed to one audience only,

Experts say Mr. Bush does not appear to be trying to force Mr. Maliki out, if only because there is no obvious alternative. Rather, they say, the president’s remarks are aimed at a domestic audience. Back in January, Mr. Bush sold the troop buildup to the country as a plan that would tamp down violence and create “political breathing space” to allow the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to create a unity government.

Yes, his remarks are aimed at you and have no effect in the real world.