A New Way of Doing Business
June 6th, 2006George W. Bush has been derided by some as an alcoholic, but as a politician, he certainly has the ability to cut his demands down cold turkey. In the past he’s dropped his opposition to the 9/11 Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, his refusal to engage the Iranians and the Koreans, and his pledge to bring dignity back to the Oval Office. Now he’s backing off of his promises to play tough with the Iranians and not “engage their bad behavior,” and he’s offering airplanes for their civilian fleet, and nuclear technology for power plants. Being of a rational mind, I’ve no opposition to these offers or the existence of the talks, but I am growing tired of the Texas Two-Step: back away from the dancefloor and then come roaring in right when the jukebox is running out of music. This awkward pattern of half-hearted brinksmanship, coupled with the latest Has Been brings to mind an interesting idea. Bruce Reed notes that Republicans have two parts: sunny and Economic; dark and Cultural. With the re-introduction of the Most Meritless Amendment Since Prohibition to the Constitution the mood has turned from good to bad in George Bush’s Washington. And that leads to better government from the Bush White House.
An odd thing that I’ve noticed is that the Bush Administration likes to do such whimpy, pacifist things as engage North Korea or Iran, Congress likes to steathily raise taxes, and things altogether get better whenever the President’s polls have slipped beneath the Nixon line. Ironically, whenever the President’s poll ratings hit their lowest, he decides that finally it’s time to do something internationally that he otherwise wouldn’t have done (Iran), and a sensible foreign policy has life breathed unto it. I figure that George Bush decides that, once he’s hit the thirties and he can’t get anything done in Washington, he decides that then is the time to search somewhere else for an achievement.
If the corruption, Defense Secretary, environmental plunderers and budget deficits that are bringing this country down from the inside and tearing down the White House from the outside have any upside, there’s the fact that, without them, Bush would deem it necessary and proper to pursue nonsense in foreign policy to keep his base happy. Keep the pressure up, and maybe he’ll decide to do something about Global Warming, because as it currently stands, George Bush is reinventing the way we do business in Washington — achieve nothing worthwhile unless everybody dislikes you: before then, it’s just not worth it!