...isn't the last thing the Bush administration can afford more of now is the appearance of a cover up of how it used pre-war intelligence? From a sheer politics point of view, isn't Bush just going to look more and more dishonest and unethical to voters? More like Cheney? Won't it just feed the very real and measurable public sentiment that they've got something they're anxious to hide? They can maneuver all they want to continue to stall and obstruct Phase II, but when the public doesn't trust them or their proxies in Congress, don't they in a real political sense all lose? I'm no political strategist, but it seems to me the message for the Democrats gets easier and easier: Cover up. Sham investigation. Dragging their feet.
And don't underestimate the related political threat to Cheney and the Bush White House coming from McCain. This guy looks like the shining white knight on all the big picture stuff compared to the Bush White House, and I suspect he is immensely, immensely appealing not only to independents and the stray Democrat, but to plenty of Republicans who don't feel good about the Bush narrative any more on the war, on torture, on ethics, on corruption (remember the Abramoff stuff?), on national security, on national unity. Just as the public has really totally lost confidence in the Bush White House, is this very visible far more appealing potential alternative -- and what is McCain most out front on now? The fact that the White House wants the CIA to have a torture exemption. Not exactly a winning side for the Bush administration. It doesn't help the White House that McCain's chief adversary on this is none other than Cheney himself, who is most associated in the American public mind with discredited Iraq intelligence pronouncements, hiding out in bunkers, and his office's role in outing a CIA officer to the media.
It would appear his usual support from Rove and Cheney isn't in place. He seems to have decided to distance himself from those two. Or, Rove is similarly disinclined to take his head out of the sand where he's been hiding from a Fitzgerald indictment. Or the rumors that Bush is coming apart might be true and he is no longer listening to anyone.
But what can Bush do? The Governator just may have a method that will work. From The Next Hurrah:
Fresh from his trouncing at the hands of the California voters last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger displayed a refreshing bit of candor and responsibility this week. In a series of statements, he accepted blame for the special election debacle, in which all of the propositions he backed lost by margins from 5% to 24%; he acknowledged that the voters wanted problems to be solved in Sacramento and not at the ballot box; he admitted that his demeaning characterizations of opponents had backfired; and he promised to work with legislators and critics, backing his words with fence-mending deeds. This stands in sharp contrast to president Bush, who continued to paint critics of his failed Iraq war as traitors who are trying to rewrite history.
[...]Unlike Arnold, Bush has left himself no way to change, no opportunity to embrace and work with his opposition, because to do so would expose what must remain hidden. Not only can Bush not pivot like Arnold, he cannot clean house like Ronald Reagan after Iran-Contra, unless he replaces not just his Defense Secretary but his Vice-President. Is Bush facing the fate of that other late-but-not-lamented California politician who he so much resembles, Richard Nixon?
Yes, it seems that Bush is headed down the road of the President most like him, Richard Nixon. Will he be impeached? Giving his actions right now, if he continues to self destruct, it looks more and more likely the Republicans will have to do something to repair the political damage Bush has done to their careers. Could Republicans turn on him and impeach him just to show how much better they are than he is? I can dream....
No comments:
Post a Comment