Bush – Swing for the fences
Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard suggests how the President can best use his remaining time in office.
* Fire generals.
* Keep John Bolton
* Stop earmarks.
* Give judicial nominees recess appointments.
* Talk up the military option in Iran.
* Apply the Kennedy model to North Korea.
* Push a radical energy independence plan.
* Implement the military option and take out all of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The details are important so please don’t react until reading the article.
I don’t necessarily agree with most of these and I would like to add a few more:
*To aquiesce to all of the largely bi-partisan proposals moving through Congress.
*Dramatic tax simplification to restore integrity to the system and liberate free market processes.
Iraq is a mess but Bush could dilute this drag on his legacy by swinging for the fences on other issues and leave the country better off than he found it.
8 Responses to “Bush – Swing for the fences”
Fred Barnes is a complete assh***, I can toreate small doses of Kristol, but Barnes is crazier than Bush. Barnes is the defintion of Washington elite, yet he speaks as an outsider – LOL. Barnes needs to move over to the American SpectatorSpectacle, they’re just as crazy as Barnes.
There is no other phrase suitable for these ideas but “completely batsh*t insane.”
It’s disgusting how the “intelligensia” is so willing to sacrifice the lives of young Americans to test out their radical political theories.
In a sensible, just world, Fred Barnes and all who agree with him would be punch lines to jokes, at best.
So Rudy and Andrew what do you think the President should do with the remainder of his term?
Barnes is an idiot. He’s always been an idiot.
Bolton? That’s his priority? An ambassador whose presence acts as an excuse for any country looking to deny us cooperation? Why? Why exactly is that important?
Stop earmarks? Hello, that’s Congress not the White House.
Use recess appointments to foist more ideologues on us in clear disregard of the American people and the Constitutional process? Why? So that he can cement his already impressive reputation as a divider not a uniter? So he can ensure the instant death of any legislation he proposes?
Bomb Iran? With US forces at the wrong end of a supply line that runs through Shiite southern Iraq? With most of the world’s oil moving on big, slow tankers through the Iranian’s backyard pool?
Good grief, this is just a right wing nut job’s loony wish list, Paul. It’s utterly divorced from reality. It’s trivial. It’s petulant. It’s part of no rational overall plan.
Mr. Bush cannot rescue his presidency anymore than Richard Nixon could. It’s time for Congress to step up and set the agenda. With even the GOP distancing itself from the incompetent in the White House it’s time to set Mr. Bush aside, ignore him for the next two years, and as much as possible within the constitution, run the government from Capitol Hill.
It doesn’t matter what I think. Bush won’t do anything smart or reasonable. There is no value in proposing ideas for the executive to implement as long as Bush is president.
There is only value in influencing the Democratic Congress, who may be open to reasonable ideas.
The Bush administration has gotten a free-pass on Iraq because of earmarks. Congress gets to send home projects, local companies get more money to do work for the US Government, and Congressmen (and women) get re-elected because of the press on the bacon coming home.
In addition to various military plans to add more fronts to GWOT, WHAT TROOPS AND EQUIPMENT ARE WE GOING TO USE? Are we going to increase the armed services or are we planning to send our Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Cub Scouts? How are these plans to be executed when we are already stretched thin militarily?
As I commented before, Bolton isn’t the anti-Christ, but a new dirrection is needed if the realists are to take power. Bombing Iran isn’t like invading Grenada. W must also stop reading Barnes. Their man love is…..
Oh, of course this is great advice. Bush has already bombed out by his policy of unilateralism, and now Barnes is advising him to pursue even more of it! He’s already ruined our country’s reputation as a benevolent nation bound by laws by bypassing the UN (Iraq invasion), Congress (signing statements), our judicial system (warrantless wiretaps), the Magna Carta (elimination of habeas corpus) and the Geneva Conventions (advocating “alternative interrogation methods”) and the Constitution.
Yes, he should ignore Congress, the Baker Commission, leagues of foreign policy advisors, the American voters who quite loudly requested a change in direction, and go out on his own. Because we all know how successful that has been in the past. Because what really counts is not what’s best for the country, not the democratic process, not the troops he has put in harm’s way–BUT HIS LEGACY. Isn’t that what really matters??????