Who IS GW Bush?
By Doug Edelman (02/22/06)
The latest word around Washington today is, if you can believe it, VETO! Amidst talk in Congress of legislation to block the PortGate sale; President Bush has threatened to do the unthinkable. He's talking about pulling out that virgin Veto Pen and inking those elusive 4 letters V E T O.
Here is an issue that is the hottest conversation topic since the towers fell… with a unanimity of opposition not unlike a virtual Vulcan Mind Meld between left and right; and the Administration is finally ready to launch the Veto Nuke – to get the Dubai Port Concession Sale rammed through over the expressed will of the people and of Congress?
WHO IS THIS GUY?
Could it be that President Bush really is the colossally stupid dunce that he's been portrayed by the Left as!
Let me preface my statements by saying this. I have no reason to doubt that, to the extent such things can be assured, the Administration has vetted the sale as to any security risks and has good reason to be confident the deal as planned poses no real threat. To believe otherwise would necessarily imply that Bush has DELIBERATELY and KNOWINGLY violated his duty to protect the nation and exposed us to new threats. I still don't have it in me to believe that he would do such a thing.
I am therefore left to conclude that the President's heart is in the right place. Unfortunately, his head seems misplaced! In fact, he seems lately to be suffering from a rectal/cranial inversion!
IF President Bush were the orator and "Great Communicator" that Reagan was, he might be able to make a case to the American People and get the sale through. But as this President is the GRATE communicator, frequently shredding his own chances of being understood or agreed with, it is not the least bit surprising that by its very nature, the deal would at least raise eyebrows.
All of which supports my contention that this deal is not the result of nefarious goings on – but of simple STUPIDITY!
I can even sympathize with him. There are only a couple of resources in the world capable of handing the port concession. The Dubai group is one, and another is Halliburton! Can you imagine if the contract went to the BIG H? No doubt he was looking for an alternative!
But a hallmark of this Administration is their utter lack of foresight. No one foresaw the speed with which our troops would take Baghdad. The insurgency came as a surprise. They expected a Paris Liberation type party. Most informed people on the street could have made a more accurate prediction.
If I were to desire to do battle with the US… it wouldn't be in a conventional war! I'd go underground and use urban guerrilla tactics – just as the Iraqis have done! In fact – I'd fully rely on the American Liberal's distaste for armed conflict to assist in the effort. We've taught the world that if you knock down our buildings and kill 3000 in a day, we'll kick your posterior. But if you kill 1 or 2 of us a day, you'll wear us down. How the Administration failed to foresee this is beyond me.
They didn't foresee the Meiers fiasco. Again, Bush's heart may well have been in the right place. He may well have had reason to believe that she would have turned out to be an excellent justice. But he didn't foresee the reaction to a stealth candidate without paper trail?
Now he's blindsided by the reaction to the port concessions going to interests in Dubai? Is there no instinct for public opinion? Does no one in the Administration have a pulse of the people? Is there no one who understands what will and won't "play in Peoria"?
Is the Administration really in a "bubble"? We know Bush doesn't watch the news. We know Cheney and others at high levels in the administration don't use email. Doubtless they're clueless when it comes to the blogosphere! Maybe they really are out of touch.
I know I'm inviting the ire of the partisan hacks that will defend the president as our unassailable knight on the white horse. But I'm not attacking him nor trying to do him harm. I'm writing in the hopes someone in the Administration will take heed and bring on board someone who DOES understand the implications of how proposals and actions will "play in Peoria". Someone who IS a citizen of the Blogosphere. Someone who can advise on HOW to make a case to the public. Without doing so, the administration will be guilty of premature crippling of the presidential duck – and making it much more difficult for conservatives to maintain, much less gain, congressional seats in 2006, and the battle for the White House in 2008 will be made none the easier if Bush fails to learn the lessons of his rebukes from the right.
Copyright © 2005 by Doug Edelman
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