Delusion
Tom Friedman wishes Bush would reach out the the Middle East and admit his errors in Iraq. This last chance, "Hail Mary Pass" might be the only way to prevent defeat in Iraq and to protect out allies from becoming the victims of Islamic terrorism.
Really, what is the point of this? To make Friedman feel better about himself? He must know that Bush will never do anything like this, so we must assume that the speech is really just Friedman pretending to be the president. But clearly Friedman is still buying into this clash of civilizations nonsense, and still--still--can't see that the very premise of invading Iraq was faulty.
Isn't that Friedman's career in a nutshell? Describing the world in the simplest terms possible, expressing an optimistic desire to bring people together, and then bemoaning the fact that reality isn't the same as fantasy. We need mature thinking on this subject, not pulp fiction.