I have been in the financial and political world for nearly 40 years. I have dealt with the most powerful political and business people during that time. That experience was enhanced by founding Air America Radio and Nova M Radio. For many years I used to be able to rely on what is called the "prudent man rule." An alternative to this is referred to as the "rational adversary" concept. In political terms, the USSR was the best example of the "rational adversary." Even totalitarian nations generally have a survival instinct.
Yesterday I watched the PBS Frontline episode about Iran. Most people do not know as was pointed out in the episode that Iran condemned 911 and helped us overthrow the Taliban in 2002. Iran had a reformer as its president who was reaching out to the US until the famous "axis of evil" speech by Bush in 2002. Despite that, the Iranian president sent through the Swiss channel an offer of a lasting piece with Iran and a cessation of their nuclear program and aggressive attitude towards Israel. Unfortunately for US, Bush did not respond because he was determined to invade Iraq and ultimately if successful do the same to Iran.
This was a blunder of monumental proportions to our national security and the stability of the region. Now that the Bush Administration is going into its last year, it would seem that they would be more willing to salvage some legacy. This would be true for any rational administration. But, as I have learned painfully in the last few years, the "prudent man rule" and the "rational adversary" theory are becoming less reliable. I have coined a term for this: "insanity is trump." You can throw away the rule book for the Bush Administration because he and Cheney have lost their minds. We are dealing with desperate wounded irrational people in those two. And that is cause for great alarm to those in the Democratic leadership that believe that they can ride out the storm until January 20, 2009. They cannot and human survival is in jeopardy if they do.
Bush once flubbed on a an old saying. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." That is exactly the way I feel about the Democrats and those who voted with Bush on the recent Iran condemnation in the Senate. Any prudent Democrat should now know that this President is unbalanced and is dangerous to US and himself. That is why the Democrats have to stop playing politics with Bush. He is irrational and cannot be moved. The idea of winning the 2008 Presidential election by riding this out is not reasonable given this irrational adversary. They have to move now to de-fund the war in Iraq no matter what the perceived political cost. I personally believe that de-funding the war would actually strengthen the Democrats politically. That was what the 2006 voters wanted. It is time for the Dems to stop being naive and understand that "insanity is trump."