Rummy, you're doing a heck of a job.
First Rumsfeld let his ideological fantasy of a quick three-week invasion lead to too few forces, no planning, no security and a bungled military operation that has created the onset of civil war in Iraq. That, in turn, has strengthened the hand of Iran and Islamic extremists in the Mideast, leading, in part, to the conflagration between Lebanon and Israel.
Now, just like the administration's FEMA didn't care if it saved the people of New Orleans, its Defense Department is taking a somewhat similar -- but not quite as extreme -- slow-poke approach to evacuating Americans seeking to get out of Lebanon, even if the pace starts to pick up today. And its privatization mantra continued even oveseas, where it planned to charge Americans there for the cost of evacuation until mounting political outrage forced the government to backpedal.
To understand why this administration is so poor at carrying out the basic functions of government, you'll need to read Alan Wolfe's brilliant essay in The Washington Monthly, "Why Conservatives Can't Govern," in which he shows that the Bush crowd doesn't have any interest in governing -- just in winning power so it can turn the federal government into a money spigot dispensing contracts and tax breaks to its wealthy supporters. He points out:
The collapse of the Bush presidency, in other words, is not just due to Bush's incompetence (although his administration has been incompetent beyond belief). Nor is it a response to the president's principled lack of intellectual curiosity and pitbull refusal to admit mistakes (although those character flaws are certainly real enough). And the orgy of bribery and special-interest dispensation in Congress is not the result of Tom DeLay's ruthlessness, as impressive a bully as he was. This conservative presidency and Congress imploded, not despite their conservatism, but because of it.
Contemporary conservatism is first and foremost about shrinking the size and reach of the federal government. This mission, let us be clear, is an ideological one. It does not emerge out of an attempt to solve real-world problems, such as managing increasing deficits or finding revenue to pay for entitlements built into the structure of federal legislation. It stems, rather, from the libertarian conviction, repeated endlessly by George W. Bush, that the money government collects in order to carry out its business properly belongs to the people themselves. One thought, and one thought only, guided Bush and his Republican allies since they assumed power in the wake of Bush vs. Gore: taxes must be cut, and the more they are cut--especially in ways benefiting the rich--the better.
But like all politicians, conservatives, once in office, find themselves under constant pressure from constituents to use government to improve their lives. This puts conservatives in the awkward position of managing government agencies whose missions--indeed, whose very existence--they believe to be illegitimate. Contemporary conservatism is a walking contradiction. Unable to shrink government but unwilling to improve it, conservatives attempt to split the difference, expanding government for political gain, but always in ways that validate their disregard for the very thing they are expanding. The end result is not just bigger government, but more incompetent government.
Keep all that in mind as you watch the Bush administration mishandle one crisis after another, including the outbreak of a potential regional war in the Mideast.