You wrote: "we allowed the press and our enemies into talking us into losing that war"
I disagree. I do not think that the war could possibly have been won by the USA. The reason is simple: The war was defensive in nature. They kept attacking and we kept defending. The memory of Chinese intervention in the Korean War was fresh in the minds of US planners, as well it should have been. This precluded the only possible winning strategy, taking North Vietnam, closing the training camps, the supply depots, etc. So long as the North could train, equip, and supply forces in the South, we were going to continue to take losses indefinitely with no hope of victory.