Sure, Mr. President, Blame Congress

At his press conference yesterday, the president was asked about efforts to find "common ground" with congress. He complained that while he and congress have found common ground on FISA (with that sort of common ground, who needs checks and balances?) and trade, he hadn't seen any legislation yet.

Then he rolled into this whopper:

Veterans Affairs is an area where we can find common ground. I've called in - I asked Bob Dole and Donna Shalala to lead an important commission, a commission to make sure our veterans get the benefits they deserve. I was concerned about bureaucratic delay and concerned about a system that had been in place for years. But this didn't recognize this different nature -- a different kind of war that we're fighting.

I don't like it when I meet wives who are sitting by - beside their husband's bed in Walter Reed and not being supported by its government, not being helped to provide care. I'm concerned about PTSD, and I want people to focus on PTSD. And so we sent up a bill and I hope they move on it quickly. There's a place where we can find common ground.

Forget for a moment that Veterans Affairs and Walter Reed, as part of the Defense Department, are different agencies. Forget common ground on a PTSD bill.

The reason those "wives... are sitting by - beside their husband's bed in Walter Reed and not being supported by its government" is because our government has embarked on a dubious war without the resources it needed to support our troops abroad or at home. Because even as Bush hasn't asked the country to make any sacrifice for his noble cause, neither, really has his administration. Whether its body armor in the field, oversight at the hospitals caring for the maimed, or outsourcing the war effort, the administration reeks of disingenuousness. "Common ground" may be the default with a lockstep Republican congress or a gutless Democratic congress, but the buck stops at the White House.

Just watch what happens when Iraq gets smart and exercises some autonomy and pushes us to pull some 100,000-plus unaccountable contractors out of their country. Forget protecting State Department employees. The whole military supply chain will fall apart. No meals for the troops, material won't get trucked in, prisons won't be guarded.

The kind of common ground we need is the kind that pays more than lip service to the world we've created. It's the common ground that comes from speaking honestly about the mess we've gotten ourselves into. Go ahead, Mr. President, you start.

Comments

[knowBuddhaU]

Bush is the kind of guy who, when caught eating a menu instead of the meal, would defend his stupidity and attack your patriotism.

But Bush and his ilk aren't alone in this. Before you get to feeling all self-righteous, please note that we all share the assumption of an atomized self: we think we exist apart from
that which gives rise to us. This is where research psychology meets Buddhism meets politics.

Binary thinking is composed of ratios. Witness Lynne Cheney on The Daily Show (10 October 07). She was claiming success for her husband's disastrous policies because "they" hadn't attacked "us" in 6 years. Jon gently reminded her of the anthrax attacks, the Madrid bombing, the London bombing. She said, "I'm talking about _American_ interests," leaning half way across the desk and glaring at her host over the dead bodies of the victims of those attacks. The audience let loose a rare boo as Jon said meekly, "I thought they were our allies."

In binary thinking, there is no common ground.

The binary, Divide-and-Conquer-ratio-making-mind is stringing out this line of words you are reading right here right now. Please note that, by the nature of drawing a line, 3 things arise mutually: Side A, a Line (of data, pixels, words, and reasoning), and Side B. They arise
in a field that begins and remains _indivisible_.

That's us. That's We, the indivisible People. We find our common ground in the spaces in between.

"Singing songs, and carrying signs
Mostly say 'hooray for our side'"--Buffalo Springfield

Be on the side of the Source of all sides.

________________
out of the infinite
post-partum we stand; divided we fall back
into the infinite
dp

[Binkley]

"I don't like it when I meet wives who are sitting by - beside their husband's bed in Walter Reed..."

Translation: I don't like it when I'm forced to glad-hand with folks who aren't the Haves and the Have-Mores.

[gaby]

lets face it george doesn't care or have an inkling to all the harm he has caused, its all about him. what a disaster of a human being.

[eliandbo]

As we get deeper into a recession, this government and the Federal Reserve will toy with ideas that won't work as they did in the past.

Let me make this clear.

In the past our leaders through incentives like interest rates and taxes , put people back to work by causing people to spend money, thus causing factories to put people back to work and even hire new people.

Today, even with those incentives, this won't happen, because those business are all investing in third world countries with cheap labor.

This upcoming recession (depression), will last a lot longer and deeper than previous recessions!

This can be blamed on Bill Clinton , by his passing the Republican trade deals, and the most favored nation treaty with China.

We better watch whom we elect!

[knowhelpnow]

The President nor the Congress understand the word compromise. It's all or nothing for the President and he is not a King. I don't care what he thinks.

[got2Bkidding]

One might also point out that he hasn't visited any of the wounded in Walter Reed personally. Or attended a single military funeral.

Of course his apologists will hear this speech and say "see he really cares about the troops".

Same as it ever was...

If he says anything once some will take it as truth. Say it enough and what... 24% will take it as gospel.
Haven't people caught onto this yet? (sound of crickets chirping).

[eliandbo]

As we get deeper into a recession, this government and the Federal Reserve will toy with ideas that won't work as they did in the past.

Let me make this clear.

In the past our leaders through incentives like interest rates and taxes , put people back to work by causing people to spend money, thus causing factories to put people back to work and even hire new people.

Today, even with those incentives, this won't happen, because those business are all investing in third world countries with cheap labor.

This upcoming recession (depression), will last a lot longer and deeper than previous recessions!

This can be blamed on Bill Clinton , by his passing the Republican trade deals, and the most favored nation treaty with China.

We better watch whom we elect!

[rmajh5]

Listening to President Bush at the microphone yesterday, a thought occurred to me. Would he be helped by a consultation with an MD? A doctor who might be able to explain to our president that when treating the human body for illness, not only is it important to understand what that illness is, but it is equally important to use the appropriate medicine in the appropriate dose. Sometimes, mixing doses or offering too much of a particular medication will not only kill the cancer, it will kill the human body as well.

Is it possible that President Bush would be able to see the connection between treating an individual human body and treating a part of our human society? Could he understand that the result of our preemptive strike in Iraq appears to mirror what happens when we mistakenly introduce the wrong drug into the ailing human body?

[Ravenlea]

Wouldn't it be lovely if it were so... This man, I fear, has no desire to learn, maybe no capacity for it. Worse yet, I don't think he has any capacity for actual compassion. His speech writers draw up pretty phrases for him to say but he seems to have no true attachment to them. The dead are meaningless to him except for how they impact his poll numbers. I don't think even therapy could really reach him. I don't know what he would be diagnosed as - narcissist? psychopath? - but he is truly certifiable.

I don't think he actually cares about anybody but himself, certainly not soldiers, veterans, or children. I just hope the country survives him and that Congress gets enough back bone to impeach him.