Foreign Policy Gurus Line Up Like Children

Former secretaries of state and defense aren't supposed to be poodles and patsies, but I've gotta wonder. What were they thinking? They all linked up like kindergartners for the photo op with the prez in the Oval Office, a baker's dozen of 'em by my count: Albright, Baker, Carlucci, Cohen - line up according to height please, and no pushing - and for their pains got a grand total of five to ten minutes of actual dialogue time with Bush. During that time, they were mostly polite and held their tongues. And they came out to say basically this: Well, some of us think that invading Iraq was the cat's pajamas, and some of us think it was way dumb, but now that we are there it pretty much looks like the president is doing the right thing.

For their pains they were treated to a 40-minute dog and pony show by Ambassador Zal Khalilzad and Gen. Peter Pace, who (I am sure) had on their full-tint rosy eyeshades.

Here's my favorite quote from the gathering of the Next Best and Brightest. From Mel Laird, the Vietnam-era defense chief: "He listened to us." Yes, but did you say anything? In five minutes, with 13 people? My calculator says that it divides up to precisely 23 second per person. Oh--wait. Colin Powell didn't say a word. That gave each of the other twelve 25 seconds a piece. And that's not counting Bush's reportedly "feisty" replies.

The Times says that Madeleine Albright was one of the few who challenged Bush in the 25 seconds availabklet o her, making some sort of comment about Bush's lack of attention to foreign policy problems beyond Iraq. And Bush jumped on her for that. "I can't let this comment stand," he said, according to the Times.

The event yesterday is in stark contrast to the meeting in March, 1968, when the tribal elders of the foreign policy establishment gathered to chastise LBJ for his errors in Vietnam. That meeting, which included luminaries such as Averell Harriman and Clark Clifford, convinced Johnson that he had to reverse the disastrous U.S. course in Vietnam. The meeting in the Oval Office was, instead, a public relations stunt staged by the White House as part of its weeks-long domestic offensive to recapture the political initiative over Bush's failed war in Iraq.

It remains pathetic how unwilling the Democrats are to confront the president on Iraq. The clock is ticking, the election is getting closer, and the Democrats are still waffling on the single most important issue of 2006. What voters want is a clear choice. They want someone to tell them how the United States is going to get out of Iraq. Bush has his answer: We'll get out when we win. What is the Democrats' answer? Jack Murtha has his. Nancy Pelosi has hers. But the Democratic party is floundering--and it's starting to look silly.