Sunday, December 18, 2005
Finally...
Let's be clear, President Bush and his administration have not engaged in thoughtful dialogue regarding Iraq, that is until now.
For months and even years, there was a vigorous and highly-disciplined effort to convey to the public a 'We're right, everyone else is wrong.' message. This has been frustrating to many because it was as though they were holding hands over eyes, ears and mouth whenever the realities of Iraq were brought to surface: flawed intelligence, flawed post-war planning, flawed reconstruction plans and flawed financial assumptions.
But in past weeks, and especially in tonight's national address from the oval office, the President acknowledged the realities I cite above. While simple on the surface, I find this fascinating and extremely curious -- is this a more thoughtful, reflective administration or is this a well-engineered political exercise?
Sure, using the 'victory' word in speeches and on backdrops is obviously a function of political engineering, but I for one think (dare I say hope?) that this new posture represents substantive change. My optimism stems from the reports of a fallout between the President and Vice President in the wake of 'Plame-Gate'.
Perhaps the confluence of the Plame leak and Hurricane Katrina caught Bush's attention, perhaps he may have recognized or perceived a need to take a more hands-on and direct role in setting the tone and substance of debate rather than these things being the exclusive domain of administration officials. I for one have seen some of the best one-on-one interviews the President has ever engaged in take place in just the past few weeks.
Americans have big hearts, and while some may not agree with the direction of the war, nearly all forgive folks who admit mistakes. Taking responsibility and demonstrating empathy goes a long way, Mr. President.
Now let's hope for an imaginitive and visionist State of the Union.
I want Social Security reform to strengthen our solvency, I want our forces that step down in Iraq to be reallocated to Afghanistan, I want the administration to take Senator Liebermann's offer of a bipartisan 'war council' to confer on strategy and monitor progress in Iraq, I want a task force with exclusive focus of following up on the 9/11 Comission's Report and I want a 'Truman Plan' to focus on reducing our dependency on foriegn oil.
Let's see if Santa leaves me these things with a big red bow on top. . .
For months and even years, there was a vigorous and highly-disciplined effort to convey to the public a 'We're right, everyone else is wrong.' message. This has been frustrating to many because it was as though they were holding hands over eyes, ears and mouth whenever the realities of Iraq were brought to surface: flawed intelligence, flawed post-war planning, flawed reconstruction plans and flawed financial assumptions.
But in past weeks, and especially in tonight's national address from the oval office, the President acknowledged the realities I cite above. While simple on the surface, I find this fascinating and extremely curious -- is this a more thoughtful, reflective administration or is this a well-engineered political exercise?
Sure, using the 'victory' word in speeches and on backdrops is obviously a function of political engineering, but I for one think (dare I say hope?) that this new posture represents substantive change. My optimism stems from the reports of a fallout between the President and Vice President in the wake of 'Plame-Gate'.
Perhaps the confluence of the Plame leak and Hurricane Katrina caught Bush's attention, perhaps he may have recognized or perceived a need to take a more hands-on and direct role in setting the tone and substance of debate rather than these things being the exclusive domain of administration officials. I for one have seen some of the best one-on-one interviews the President has ever engaged in take place in just the past few weeks.
Americans have big hearts, and while some may not agree with the direction of the war, nearly all forgive folks who admit mistakes. Taking responsibility and demonstrating empathy goes a long way, Mr. President.
Now let's hope for an imaginitive and visionist State of the Union.
I want Social Security reform to strengthen our solvency, I want our forces that step down in Iraq to be reallocated to Afghanistan, I want the administration to take Senator Liebermann's offer of a bipartisan 'war council' to confer on strategy and monitor progress in Iraq, I want a task force with exclusive focus of following up on the 9/11 Comission's Report and I want a 'Truman Plan' to focus on reducing our dependency on foriegn oil.
Let's see if Santa leaves me these things with a big red bow on top. . .
