Nobody seems to know Bush’s Secrets
By Kevin Roeten (10/01/07)
Bush is secretly advising the top Democrat presidential contenders(Clinton & Obama) on the way the war in Iraq should be prosecuted. Bill Sammon(White House correspondent/Examiner) has said that Bush is quietly advising Democrat presidential candidates to tone down their rhetoric about Iraq and removing the troops. This could be a desperate effort to retain the White House for a Republican or, it could be something else entirely.
If it was a ‘desperate effort’, why would Hillary explicitly say that she would not withdraw from Iraq through 2009? She has not apologized for her 2002 vote to give Bush the power to prosecute this war. Strangely, it seems that Hillary is starting to protect her flank. What seems to be flip-flopping on the issues could be a direct result of conversations with Bush. And likely, Hillary realizes that she will win the Democrat nomination, and is making concerted efforts to make sure she’s not backed into a dark corner.
Bush seems to know more than most think. And well, he should. White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten has said Bush has been urging candidates: “Don’t get yourself too locked in where you stand right now. If you end up sitting where I sit, things could change dramatically.” Bolten also told The Examiner, “He wants to create the conditions where a Democrat not only will have the leeway, but the obligation to see[the Iraq War] out.”
Bush said in a recent Oval Office interview about his advice: “And then that person is going to have to come back and look at the same data I’ve been looking at, and come to their own conclusion.” Perplexingly, you don’t hear this information much at all. To that end, Bush is incorporating certain anti-terror programs so they can be used by the next president—whichever party it is.
Instead of answering questions, this actually raises a whole myriad of others. Why is Bush talking to Democrats in the first place? Bush actually stated that he expects Democrats to criticize him. He expects much criticism of the outgoing president of the opposing party. Bush even told Sammon that he thinks Clinton will win the Democrat nomination, but lose to the Republican candidate in 2008.
The Examiner asked an unnamed White House official whether the Democrats were reluctant to have private contacts with the administration and replied, “No, I think they sort of welcome conversation.” All of a sudden Hillary seems to be meeting Bush halfway, morphing into a ‘George W. Bush Democrat’. She has now talked openly about the dangers of abject withdrawal.
Further comments from the president are even more revealing: “If I were a Democrat, I would not want to be in a place where I was forcing us to withdraw in 2008. One of two things will happen if a Democrat gets elected president. They will either have to withdraw US troops to remain true to their rhetoric—or, they will have to break their word… in which case they encourage fratricide on the left of their party.”
Sammon also writes that Bolten said that Bush wants enough continuity in his Iraq policy that even a Democrat president would be in a position to sustain a legitimate presence in Iraq. Something is going on, or particular information is known only by a few parties.
Why does Bush persist in an unpopular war when his party will supposedly be hurt by its unpopularity in 2008? Why does Bush sound so confident on what the next administration will decide once they are privy to all the facts? Why does it uncannily seem that party politics may not really matter when it comes to protecting America? Many facts have been previously brought out, but just as many don’t seem to know how to connect-the-dots. What does Bush really know that he won’t, or cannot, say?
Fortunately, or unfortunately, we will probably learn certain items after the fact. It’s interesting that all the Democrat candidates seem to be backing off on any specific pullout date in Iraq now. It seems a lot of people are going to have egg all over their face. But, it may not be egg.
Kevin Roeten
http://kevinroeten.us/
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