At yesterday's press conference, President Bush insisted that he is still "relevant." Normally, it's an immutable law of politics that if you have to say you're relevant, you're not (shades of Clinton circa 1995). But in Bush's case, his role as the primary Decider on the war in Iraq is keeping him tragically relevant -- in the same way that the driver of a bus careening toward the edge of cliff is extremely relevant to his passengers.
Okay, so Bush is relevant. And deluded. Deeply deluded, if he truly believes, as he also claimed, that he and Congressional Democrats are "finding common ground on Iraq."
Beating your opponent into the ground with vetoes and filibuster threats is not the same as finding common ground.
Barbara Boxer caught some flack for going on Hardball last night and saying, "The president just doesn't seem to be in command of the facts or what he's trying to say... I don't find it particularly stable."
But Boxer is right. And Democrats need more of their leaders calling the president out on his delusions. Unfortunately, they have convinced themselves that if they just keep their heads down they will back into a landslide win in 2008. It's why they refuse to use the most potent weapon the Constitution has given them: the power to stop funding the war. They have that power, but not the will or the courage to use it. Instead they are adopting the same timid approach that cost them in 2002 and 2004 -- and, in doing so, are playing right into the Republicans' hands.
It's no surprise that Congress has an even lower approval rating than Bush, who himself has dropped to all-time-low Nixonian levels. The American people don't like that Bush is continuing to do what he's always done (whatever he damn well pleases); but they hate the fact that Democrats have an opportunity to aggressively push for an end to the war but refuse to take full advantage.
In many ways, it's déjà vu all over again. Bush is dialing up the fear factor and Democrats are running for cover -- signing off on a gutted FISA bill, dithering over attempts to defund the war, and having 2002 flashbacks as Bush and Cheney seed the clouds for another war, with Bush warning of "World War III" if Iran is able to build a nuclear weapon. And when it comes to tweaking our lizard brains, WW III is definitely a bump up from Axis of Evil.
So Bush is still relevant. And unless the Democrats make it crystal clear -- in actions as well as words -- that there is no common ground, they risk finding themselves increasingly irrelevant.
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"In May, Paine visited France; and was in Paris at the time of the king's flight. On that occasion, he is said to have remarked to a friend: "You see the absurdity of monarchical governments. Here will be a whole nation disturbed by the folly of one man."
I think of this in the context of what is going on today. Bush's folly some call it. It is said that the past is prologue, that history informs the future. A democracy too can be disturbed by the folly of one man. Perhaps someone who calls himself a decider.
Years ago I started (and didn't finish) a book on the French Revolution. King Louis XVI was described as riding off to meet his assembly because it was meeting without him. How could they hold this particular meeting without the king? The author suggested that if the king needs to ride to the assembly to let them know that he is the king, he is no longer the king. I recall this, perhaps imperfectly, as I learn now that Bush has asserted, in a press conference held on October 18th, that he is relevant. Scarily, sadly relevant in some ways. Not relevant in others.
Many are deliberately blocking anything the New Congress's tries to put through in order to make a statement that it is weak, Party first is the motto of these despicable elites, to H--- with anything good for the people/country they are supposed to be representing!! People better vote wisely OR we'll get more of the same thinking/actions of this administration.
St. Louis paper tells several stories of soldiers with PTSS that have been labled by the
military as having had pre-existing mental
conditions and therefore not elegible for full
benefits. One man has been presented with a bill
for over $14,000 he is to pay back to the Veterans Administration! Talk about making someone irrelevant! What happened to honoring and taking care of those who serve?
Go Kucinich and Edwards!
The only decent candidates we have now are Kucinich and Edwards, but still I've vote Dem. Paul Krugman was saying that all their health plans are improvements and get us closer to universal health care, even though Kucinich's is the only single payer plan.
nothing to add, you're completely right.
I thought - some time ago - that Nancy Pelosi would be a tough lady.
Unfortunately, she only prolongues the apathy of the democratic part of the congress.
Goddam -'xcuse me - Al, you see that mess, so please....
Congress could be relevant, should it so choose.
We are the only ones who are not relevant, no matter what we do. We keep trying and trying and working and working and NOTHING happens.
Walla! We're relevant again!
The current model is that enough money can buy enough TV to teach Skinner Pidgeons to pull the right lever.
Let's ask Conde Rice... I bet she's feeling relevant right now.
She is an 8.9 out of 10 on the "Heckuva job Brownie" scale of incompetence
Is anyone listening? Does anyone care what we say? Are we only engaging in egocentric speech therapy? We contribute, write letters to our representatives, vote, show up at rallies, and -- yes -- share our thoughts here. Yet nothing changes; we are not even acknowledged.
What will it take?
Dear Arianna,
"... use the most potent weapon the Constitution has given them: the power to stop funding the war..."
NOT.
Making every American (including those in Congress) watch Stephen Colbert's address to the Press Corp and DoubleEwe on a daily basis is the best solution allowed by the Constitution.
Then there's IMPEACHMENT for Pete's sake.
Yours,
A relentlessly pissed-off Kansan (Howbout those Kansans and that NOT COAL decision by the Secretary of the Dept. of Health and the Environment,eh!)