President Bush has had a good year
Robert Zaller
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Ed-Op
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Just short of a year ago, the Bush presidency seemed to be reeling. The Democrats had swept to control of both houses of Congress on a tidal wave of public revulsion, principally, but not entirely about the failed war in Iraq.
Within the week, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, the key architect of the war, had resigned, and although the administration put it out that Rumsfeld's resignation had been requested earlier, the appearance was certainly that of a man walking the plank.
At the same time, the fires of scandal lapped around the office of Vice President Dick (a.k.a. Darth) Cheney, as the prosecution of his chief of staff, Scooter Libby, seemed likely to reach the Dark One's throne itself. Finally, the Iraq Study Group, headed by Bush family consigliere and former Secretary of Everything James A. Baker, offered a devastating indictment of the war, pronounced it effectively lost, and laid out precisely the timeline for withdrawal that the president himself had been strenuously resisting for a year.
If Barbara Bush had whacked Junior's bottom with a hairbrush in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the message could not have been clearer: the family failure was at it again, and buying a baseball franchise would not bail him out of this mess.
We aren't the French, after all. Losing a war is serious business in this country.
Then the Great Decider showed them all.
First, he did a neat two-step around the study group's report, thanking its authors, going into deep seclusion to ponder their wisdom, and coming out, bit by tantalizing bit, with a plan - the Surge - that stood the report on its head and produced neither benchmarks for "progress" nor a timetable for troop reduction and ultimate withdrawal, but an open-ended increase in American forces.
He reached into the officers' training school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for a general with an Iraqi tour of duty behind him and a flair for bamboozling the media, David Petraeus.
Within the week, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, the key architect of the war, had resigned, and although the administration put it out that Rumsfeld's resignation had been requested earlier, the appearance was certainly that of a man walking the plank.
At the same time, the fires of scandal lapped around the office of Vice President Dick (a.k.a. Darth) Cheney, as the prosecution of his chief of staff, Scooter Libby, seemed likely to reach the Dark One's throne itself. Finally, the Iraq Study Group, headed by Bush family consigliere and former Secretary of Everything James A. Baker, offered a devastating indictment of the war, pronounced it effectively lost, and laid out precisely the timeline for withdrawal that the president himself had been strenuously resisting for a year.
If Barbara Bush had whacked Junior's bottom with a hairbrush in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the message could not have been clearer: the family failure was at it again, and buying a baseball franchise would not bail him out of this mess.
We aren't the French, after all. Losing a war is serious business in this country.
Then the Great Decider showed them all.
First, he did a neat two-step around the study group's report, thanking its authors, going into deep seclusion to ponder their wisdom, and coming out, bit by tantalizing bit, with a plan - the Surge - that stood the report on its head and produced neither benchmarks for "progress" nor a timetable for troop reduction and ultimate withdrawal, but an open-ended increase in American forces.
He reached into the officers' training school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for a general with an Iraqi tour of duty behind him and a flair for bamboozling the media, David Petraeus.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Oh Tham Eng
posted 11/10/07 @ 9:05 AM EST
The Leader America Will Need Again!
You are right, Robert Zaller! This shows that Allah is guiding him, as the Quran promises those who are fighteous! On the other hand, "Allah does not guide the evildoers"! At-Tauba 9:80. (Continued…)
Jonathan G. Easlick
posted 11/11/07 @ 10:26 AM EST
You shouldn't have any trouble getting a job at the New York Times after you graduate. If you opened your eyes and not fell prey to the banter of the Alien Media Nation, you might see that things in
America are actually pretty good. (Continued…)
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