Good points, Dale. Your "a curse on both their houses" is understandable if cynical. A dispassionate observer might note, however, the paucity of scandals (not for lack of trying with the mud brush on the part of the opposition: Enron, no stickum, etc.) in the current administration. I do recognized that it is only 2.5 years old; still hope springs eternal that this administration might set a record for fewest scandals, convictions, etc.
As for your statement, "RR didn't upgrade anything until a couple were blown up 5 years into his presidency," the statement is remarkable only in its unremarkability. One wouldn't expect upgrades to embassies (presumably under the police protection of the foreign sovereign) until it became common knowledge (via explosion) that the extant protection was defective. That's correct, isn't it?
For the same reason, although I think a truly "with it" FBI and CIA could have pre-imagined and be proactive enough to deflect most of the 9/11 damage, that's pretty much after-the-fact thinking. It's hard to imagine the unthinkable until it becomes fact; until then it's only the stuff of Tom Clancy thrillers.
Kb |
