goodbye rummie, hello pelosi
De facto President George W. Bush bid a fond adieu to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. It's difficult for a president to fire one of the few people in the public eye who is less competent than you are, which is probably why Bush waited till after the election, instead of doing it six months ago when it might have helped the Republicans.
And he said hello to Speaker-in-Waiting Nancy Pelosi, and likely Senate leader Harry Reid. At his press conference, Bush uttered a sentence that made my jaw drop: "I've been around politics a long time. I understand when campaigns end and when the governing begins."
Umm, there's been no evidence of that in his Presidency. He took his one-vote victory courtesy of the Supreme Court and rode it as if he had a 49-state landslide mandate like Reagan in 1984. He snookered bipartisan-minded Democrats like Ted Kennedy into some early cooperation and backstabbed them by underhandedly changing the terms of their agreements. He made the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq war into partisan issues, stopping barely short of calling Democrats "enemy combatants."
Bush's first six years in office were a permanent campaign. I'll suspend belief (despite his Texas record) that he can "govern" in conjunction with Democrats until I see some firm proof.
And he said hello to Speaker-in-Waiting Nancy Pelosi, and likely Senate leader Harry Reid. At his press conference, Bush uttered a sentence that made my jaw drop: "I've been around politics a long time. I understand when campaigns end and when the governing begins."
Umm, there's been no evidence of that in his Presidency. He took his one-vote victory courtesy of the Supreme Court and rode it as if he had a 49-state landslide mandate like Reagan in 1984. He snookered bipartisan-minded Democrats like Ted Kennedy into some early cooperation and backstabbed them by underhandedly changing the terms of their agreements. He made the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq war into partisan issues, stopping barely short of calling Democrats "enemy combatants."
Bush's first six years in office were a permanent campaign. I'll suspend belief (despite his Texas record) that he can "govern" in conjunction with Democrats until I see some firm proof.
posted by Don Q Blogger at 6:47 AM
2 Comments:
I'm with you. I know his record in Texas was that he worked well with both sides. I just wonder if we'll see that side of Bush come out full throttle now that Dems have both parts of Congress and he finally kicked out Rummy. I wonder if he was 'pressured' into some of what happened and pulled the party line, but now he can say that with the Dems in power he has to work with them instead of constantly trying to destroy them. His Good Ole Boy network is crumbling and this is his chance to act like a real individual.
The rules in texas are a LOT different than for a President. The Governorship is much more of a figurehead than other states.
You have to work with them... because they (the house/senate of Texas) really dictate what happens.
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