South by Southwest: What is with the Bush administration?

Friday, February 09, 2007

What is with the Bush administration?

The current administration remains ineffectual, unpopular and extremely stubborn. Of course this is not saying anything surprising to my progressive readers. But other writers say it a bit better than I can. For instance, the following WaPo "politics" section has an analysis that gives an excellent perspective on "lame-duck-ism" - ineffectuality. (Actually Bush, our current president - OCP - has been ineffectual for the beginning.) To quote,
Ineffectual - "White House On Sidelines In 2008 Contest - Absence of a Candidate Shapes Race, Bush's Term. By Peter Baker, Washington Post Staff Writer. Friday, February 9, 2007."

No one in the West Wing is booking tickets to Iowa. No one is scouring matchup poll numbers or hiring campaign managers or dialing for dollars. As candidate after candidate jumps into the race for president, the White House sits unaccustomedly on the sidelines.
. . . As the campaign begins to heat up without him, Bush may find it irritating not to have a role. As Timothy Walch, a historian and director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, put it: "It's very hard, I think, psychologically and politically, for somebody who has been the most powerful person in the world to begin gradually to detach themselves from power."

Unpopular - The highly respected Pew Research Center released a report (1/16/07) that there is widespread opposition to Bush's war plan, though there is greater support for a troop increase from Republicans than in the past. In fact the Senate has been unable to mount a debate and vote on disapproving the escalation of the war. Sensing the public's views on the issue, the House has set floor debate and vote on a resolution opposing the war for early next week. The House of Representatives is always closer to the people; the Senate is more deliberative. But most are convinced that Congress as a whole will eventually voice disapproval of OCP's conduct of the Iraq war, mirroring the public's views of the president.
Stubborn - The Politico is a great new info resource that is one of my regular reads. Today's story could be called "Would you believe?!" The classic example of OCP's penchant for denial of the facts, it is about an obscure little part of the current budget proposal.
"Bush Wants Funding Jump for Anti-Drug Ads Rated as Useless. By: Ryan Grim. February 8, 2007 04:11 PM EST." To quote,

President Bush has proposed a significant jump in funding for an anti-drug advertising campaign that government-funded research shows is at best useless and at worst has increased drug use among some teens.
The administration has asked for a 31 percent increase in funding for the advertising campaign that a nearly five-year study concluded had increased the likelihood that all teens would smoke marijuana. The White House proposal would increase the program's budget to $130 million over the next year.

A reader's comment about the story that says it all for me:

by RollinG on 02.08.2007 at 12:48 PMI get it. As usual the conservatives that control the GOP and the White house can?t admit they made a mistake. If it?s not working it?s not because it?s a bad idea, it is because we have not been patient enough or spent enough money on it. Has Bush ever admitted he was wrong about anything. Can you say ?surge?.