Transformation
It was a strange sight seeing President Bush at his press conference on Wednesday, chastened and defeated, confronted by a press that for one of the first times did not seem cowed. A certain lightness was in the air, even for the president himself.
In particular, with the official announcement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation (which was in actuality a firing), America entered an entirely new political climate, one where the commander-in-chief would actually fire a prominent member of his administration. It was not an act of taking responsibility, there was no admission of guilt or mistakes, but rather the move was actually designed to correct a situation – something we have not seen in this country in a long time. We’ve seen the Bush Administration mark a scapegoat, like former FEMA Director Michael Brown, but never a new appointment intended to correct or change course. The fact that this change of direction may have emanated from the first President Bush's camp does not diminish the importance.
Later in the day, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous of ABC News, and CNN’s Lou Dobbs, finally used the “L” word – they said that the President’s statements to reporters that Rumsfeld would stay as Defense Secretary through the remainder of the Bush Administration was a lie.
Transformation.
For the last two election cycles, the Republicans have bred fear as a campaigning tactic. They have conflated everything they can think of with the “War on Terror”, including Iraq. They have even stated that if we lose the war in Iraq, then hundreds or thousands of terrorists will come to America to fight in our very streets.
It is ironic that a major reason for the huge Republican losses was exactly the emotion they thought served them best – fear. It was not the fear they had hoped for, not the fear of invading terrorists, but rather fear of an arrogant group of men and women isolating us from the world, increasing anger against us everywhere, using up our treasury for poorly conceived military adventures, ignoring catastophes at home, and invading our privacy for unknown purposes without oversight. The American public has seen what one-party Republican rule is, and they have come away, finally, terrified.
So, it was with an unexpected relief that many of us greeted Wednesday morning. It was not a surprise that there would be relief – we expected that. But it was not just the release of tension, waiting for the election results, nor did it involve just the release of anger at our opponents. The power of the relief made us realize just how much fear we had been experiencing, that if the American public could not correct the situation we were in more trouble than we could handle. Well, even with the election results, we’re still in grave danger. But we feel like we can breathe again, and there is hope. Transformation!
Rumsfeld Resignation
Rumsfeld said that Iraq was too complex for others to understand. But it is clear what we should understand about Rumsfeld. His stated goal was to make a more agile and deadly force, but he was not agile enough to adjust his own strategies.
One of his greatest failures was not realizing that his use of Afghan troops without loyalties, which worked so well to oust the Taliban, would not work to capture Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora. And his strategy of using a light mobile force, which was so effective in ending Saddam Hussein's regime, was not altered when it became obvious it was not the solution to provide security for the post-war environment.
He seemed to imply that he was a sort of intellectual and military historian, but he ignored lessons in military and political history from World War II to Yugoslavia. And when others disagreed with him, he just removed them – so much for the logic of the argument being the ultimate persuader.
Many on the left have suggested that Rumsfeld was just carrying out the orders of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. But this man had full and utter control of the Pentagon, and he was a cancer on the military.
John Kerry Presidential Hopes, R.I.P.
What are the qualities that are needed in a successful presidential candidate? The ability to think on one’s feet may be primary, but even more important is the ability to reverse a mistake as quickly as possible.
John Kerry should have scheduled an exclusive interview with a reputable reporter and anchorman, for instance Wolf Blitzer or Charlie Gibson, with the requirement that the entire clip of his “controversial comments” be played. Then Kerry should have pointed out the obvious context, reprimanded the media for taking his comments out of context, apologized if the feelings of troops were hurt by the misrepresentation by both Republicans and the media, and then said that he would cancel appearances for the rest of this campaign cycle so that Iraq would not be eclipsed as the main story.
But instead, Kerry was caught flat-footed, well into two news cycles. His first response seemed arrogant, and his second statement was surrender. It’s never obvious what type and variety of advisors and consultants a prospective candidate is listening to at any particular time, but it doesn’t matter. Kerry has had two election cycles to get his team and his message right, and he has failed.
In particular, with the official announcement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation (which was in actuality a firing), America entered an entirely new political climate, one where the commander-in-chief would actually fire a prominent member of his administration. It was not an act of taking responsibility, there was no admission of guilt or mistakes, but rather the move was actually designed to correct a situation – something we have not seen in this country in a long time. We’ve seen the Bush Administration mark a scapegoat, like former FEMA Director Michael Brown, but never a new appointment intended to correct or change course. The fact that this change of direction may have emanated from the first President Bush's camp does not diminish the importance.
Later in the day, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous of ABC News, and CNN’s Lou Dobbs, finally used the “L” word – they said that the President’s statements to reporters that Rumsfeld would stay as Defense Secretary through the remainder of the Bush Administration was a lie.
Transformation.
For the last two election cycles, the Republicans have bred fear as a campaigning tactic. They have conflated everything they can think of with the “War on Terror”, including Iraq. They have even stated that if we lose the war in Iraq, then hundreds or thousands of terrorists will come to America to fight in our very streets.
It is ironic that a major reason for the huge Republican losses was exactly the emotion they thought served them best – fear. It was not the fear they had hoped for, not the fear of invading terrorists, but rather fear of an arrogant group of men and women isolating us from the world, increasing anger against us everywhere, using up our treasury for poorly conceived military adventures, ignoring catastophes at home, and invading our privacy for unknown purposes without oversight. The American public has seen what one-party Republican rule is, and they have come away, finally, terrified.
So, it was with an unexpected relief that many of us greeted Wednesday morning. It was not a surprise that there would be relief – we expected that. But it was not just the release of tension, waiting for the election results, nor did it involve just the release of anger at our opponents. The power of the relief made us realize just how much fear we had been experiencing, that if the American public could not correct the situation we were in more trouble than we could handle. Well, even with the election results, we’re still in grave danger. But we feel like we can breathe again, and there is hope. Transformation!
Rumsfeld Resignation
Rumsfeld said that Iraq was too complex for others to understand. But it is clear what we should understand about Rumsfeld. His stated goal was to make a more agile and deadly force, but he was not agile enough to adjust his own strategies.
One of his greatest failures was not realizing that his use of Afghan troops without loyalties, which worked so well to oust the Taliban, would not work to capture Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora. And his strategy of using a light mobile force, which was so effective in ending Saddam Hussein's regime, was not altered when it became obvious it was not the solution to provide security for the post-war environment.
He seemed to imply that he was a sort of intellectual and military historian, but he ignored lessons in military and political history from World War II to Yugoslavia. And when others disagreed with him, he just removed them – so much for the logic of the argument being the ultimate persuader.
Many on the left have suggested that Rumsfeld was just carrying out the orders of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. But this man had full and utter control of the Pentagon, and he was a cancer on the military.
John Kerry Presidential Hopes, R.I.P.
What are the qualities that are needed in a successful presidential candidate? The ability to think on one’s feet may be primary, but even more important is the ability to reverse a mistake as quickly as possible.
John Kerry should have scheduled an exclusive interview with a reputable reporter and anchorman, for instance Wolf Blitzer or Charlie Gibson, with the requirement that the entire clip of his “controversial comments” be played. Then Kerry should have pointed out the obvious context, reprimanded the media for taking his comments out of context, apologized if the feelings of troops were hurt by the misrepresentation by both Republicans and the media, and then said that he would cancel appearances for the rest of this campaign cycle so that Iraq would not be eclipsed as the main story.
But instead, Kerry was caught flat-footed, well into two news cycles. His first response seemed arrogant, and his second statement was surrender. It’s never obvious what type and variety of advisors and consultants a prospective candidate is listening to at any particular time, but it doesn’t matter. Kerry has had two election cycles to get his team and his message right, and he has failed.
posted by balto at 3:16 PM
2 Comments:
Not the first time Kerry has rolled over and played dead instead of standing up and fighting. Good Riddance. How did he ever make it back as a war protestor?
RadP
One of the reasons Kerry was so effective back in the early 70s was the very patrician style that kills him now. He was a "nice young man", not some slangy hippie.
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