What is protective to Americans?

Americans need protection from more than merely all the Islamist extremists who have vowed to kill them. They need protection from some of the actions of their own government. Specifically: excessive Republican partisanship infuses national security, foreign policy - particularly in the Middle East - and collegiality in Congress. Not all things need to be political all the time, even in an election year.

President Bush should speak for all U.S. citizens on days like the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. No Republicans or Democrats fell when the towers fell, nor did any party loyalists stream down the streets of New York covered with white dust. One more speech will not convince the nation that the Iraq war had anything to do with terrorism at the beginning. A BBC story covering our current president's 9/11/06 speech to the nation characterized the speech as partisan. To quote the article,

US Democrats accused Mr Bush of playing politics ahead of November elections.
One leading Democrat, Senator Edward Kennedy, said Mr Bush should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning for political gain.
In a prime-time television address from the Oval Office, President Bush said the "war on terror" was much more than a military conflict.
"It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st Century and the calling of our generation," he said.
"It is a struggle for civilisation. We are fighting to maintain a way of life enjoyed by free nations."
. . . His speech was dignified in tone and bearing, but the message was intensely partisan - a fact that will not be lost on his audience, reports the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington.

The U.S. faces multiple and dangerous threats in the Middle East right now. Those threats come down on both Republicans and Democrats alike. And nations in the region should be dealt with in nonpartisan ways; otherwise it is too confusing for them. According to Yahoo! News, security challenges are very diverse. Quoting from the story,

The Bush administration is confronting security troubles on multiple fronts: a deadly spike in violence in Afghanistan, a terror attack in Syria and a deteriorating situation in western Iraq.
The outbreaks brought fresh White House defenses of its counterterrorism policies, and new criticism from Democrats.

All executive department that deal with foreign policy owe service and loyalty to the entire American public. It is not so bad if a department is partisan when it comes to domestic policy political. But foreign policy was traditionally supposed to have bipartisan application.
How should ordinary citizens feel when the National Security Agency appears to favor one political point of view over another? It would seem that the charter of that department should include all citizens on its list of customers. Walter Pincus reports in the Washington Post that Senate Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee feels that NSA has behaved "inappropriately." To quote,

Wednesday, September 13, 2006;
Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee are complaining that the National Security Agency has played politics in support of the secret program to intercept phone calls between alleged terrorists in the United States and abroad.
On July 27, shortly after most members of the committee were briefed on the controversial surveillance program, the NSA supplied the panel's chairman, Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), with "a set of administration approved, unclassified talking points for the members to use," as described in the document.
Among the talking points were "subjective statements that appear intended to advance a particular policy view and present certain facts in the best possible light," Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) said in a letter to the NSA director.

Bad News and Good News: Republican moderate Senator Lincoln Chafee won his primary race. That is bad for Democrats, but good for the cause of of Senate bipartisanship. Quoting the story,

Mr. Chafee, the most famously liberal Republican in the Senate and a scion of one of the state's "five families," told supporters gathered at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence that his victory had been a groundswell of "diehard Republicans, independents, and disaffiliated Democrats," who "united behind the cause of honest, independent leadership." He spoke of Republicans' "proud history" in New England.
"Our goal has always been to find the common ground for the common good," he said. "Polarization, partisanship and strict party discipline must not prevail over the spirit of compromise that is so essential to our American democracy."

Most Americans feel well protected when their leaders tell them the whole truth, operate with transparency, take extra care on behalf of those most vulnerabe, ask for equal sacrifices from all, and hire and retain the very smartest people for all the toughest jobs. I am convinced that these principles always apply to both Rebublicans and Democrats alike. Voters should kick out leaders from either party who do not follow those principles.

Tags: Bush in-the-news September 11 terrorism war politics News Chafee Middle East

My "creative post" today at Southwest Blogger is about daydreams.