Good point, Sam, but I keep reading that the most pressing issue in the last two years or so of an administration is writing its historical narrative. But, given that, I can't, for the life of me, see, at least quickly, how this plays into such.
I have, however, heard some suggestions:
1. Protecting executive privilege. Bush wishes to have a narrative which emphasizes his expansion of presidential powers and protecting against congressional power grabs. But, to counter that, he's not doing this with enough of an electoral base to be very successful. So I can only see that as hard nosed bargaining; not historical narrative stuff.
2. Firming up the fighting spirit in his base. Now that makes a little sense if he wishes to take on congress. But it strikes me as hard to do that with, at best, a 30% of the electorate base.
3. Trying to spin the encounter so it's the Dems who look power hungry. Now that wouldn't be terribly hard to do but, again, he's neither in a position to do so nor has his administration been particularly good at that.
So I'm not at all certain what's going on. |
