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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mannie who wrote (2091)	7/15/2002 2:24:03 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

A wobble in confidence over Bush and his policies By David S. Broder Syndicated columnist The Seattle Times Sunday, July 14, 2002 WASHINGTON — The confidence crisis that has overtaken the Bush administration has many dimensions, but at bottom, it comes down to a single question: Can you take this president's words seriously? For most of his presidency and, indeed, his political career, George Bush has enjoyed the reputation of saying what he means and meaning what he says. But now uncertainty is infecting both foreign policy and domestic issues and stretching from the Middle East to Wall Street. While his personal approval scores remain very high in the polls, he is building a catalog of policy contradictions and retreats that threaten to undermine his leadership. The first returns on Bush's efforts to restore confidence in Wall Street were anything but encouraging. In the first two days after Bush journeyed to the heart of the financial world on a self-assigned mission to banish the world's worries about the integrity of corporate America, the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 400 points and the Nasdaq market index hit its lowest mark since 1997. This was not what Bush had in mind when he opened his Tuesday morning address on Wall Street with five successive paragraphs setting forth all the reasons that confidence in the American free enterprise system "is well-placed." "We can be confident," he declared, not only because of "the amazing achievements of American workers and entrepreneurs," but because "America is taking every necessary step to fight and win the war on terror" and because "last year, we passed the biggest tax cut in a generation" to spur economic growth. But a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released soon after Bush spoke showed only two out of five Americans think the United States and its allies are winning the war on terrorism, fewer than think it a stalemate. And next week, the revised budget estimates are likely to show that instead of running a small surplus this year, the government is headed for a deficit of as much as $160 billion, a warning signal about the economic future. Bush's personal performance has added to the wobble in confidence. The last-minute news conference was the weakest, most inarticulate showing he has made since the early months of his presidency. Asked repeatedly about his sale of stock in Harken Energy Corp., where he was a director, shortly before it had to revise upward its reported losses for the year, he responded eight times with variations on the words, "It has been looked at by the SEC," the Securities and Exchange Commission, which found no reason to challenge the legality of his action. When Bush is feeling defensive, he seems to think that reiteration is as effective as explanation or persuasion. It is not, but it is better than outright contradiction. It turns out that, as a Harken director, Bush received two low-interest loans from the corporation to finance his purchase of company stock — the very transaction he condemned in his speech. The problem is deeper. It involves policy reversals as well as personal contradictions. Nine months ago, Bush said he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." When asked about the elusive terrorist last week, Bush pretended he hardly matters, answering a question on Osama with the remark that "the war on terrorism is a lot bigger than one person." Three months ago, Bush issued an ultimatum to Ariel Sharon to withdraw Israeli forces from Palestinian territories in the West Bank "without delay." Last week, with the Israelis still there, he said, he will "call upon the Israelis, as security improves, to allow for more freedom of movement by the Palestinian people." That's quite a difference. In the real world, where presidents must operate, friends and foes are constantly testing and assessing how seriously they must take the words of any leader. We do not know how Ariel Sharon or Yasser Arafat (who's been told by Bush to take a hike) or Saddam Hussein or bin Laden gauge this American president. But last week, America's allies in the United Nations defied a Bush administration threat to end U.S. participation in the Bosnia peacekeeping operation unless our troops were given blanket immunity from possible prosecution by the new International Criminal Court. Instead, the United States will seek a temporary exemption, leading one unnamed diplomat to tell The Washington Post, "the Americans blinked." Too many back-downs in too short a time. David S. Broder's column appears Sunday on editorial pages of The Times. The Washington Post Writers Group can be contacted via e-mail at writersgrp@washpost.com. Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company seattletimes.nwsource.com

To: Mannie who wrote (2091)	7/15/2002 3:12:02 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Rub-a-Dub in the Hot Tub By MAUREEN DOWD The New York Times Editorial / Op-Ed July 14, 2002 WASHINGTON — Dick and Rummy are in the Jacuzzi at Camp David. The two masters of the Bush universe have had a lousy week. And now, with the white cast on Rummy's hand buoyed by bubbles, they just want to sip Scotch on the rocks and review the knocks. They are keeping one eye on the Kid, who's been jogging circles around Aspen Lodge for the past nine hours. Junior is supposed to be inside practicing how to say "mal-fea-sance" with an "s." But he won't do it. He's sulking. He went to Wall Street on Tuesday to show that the hero of Sept. 11 could retaliate against the creeps who wiped out the neighborhood and also keep C.E.O.'s from looting. But the president who got elected on the backs of C.E.O.'s and said he wanted to run the country like a C.E.O. was about as convincing a sheriff as Barney Fife. Rummy's war has also run into a bad patch, bombing brides instead of bin Laden. As the two men soak, more steam is coming from the vice president than the hot tub. "The Kid never should have gone to Wall Street in the first place," Dick grumbles. "All those poppycock reforms he and Rove rushed into the speech. Who knew our Karl was also a Marxist? When the going gets tough, the weak go polling. Who cares what Americans think? They should care what we think." W. jogs past with a singsong chant: "It's NOT my fault, it's NOT my fault, it's BUBBA'S fault, it's BUBBA'S fault." Dick and Rummy laugh indulgently. "SWAT teams swooping down on C.E.O.'s?" Dick scoffs. "What nonsense. Will government lawyers ride around in stealth golf carts and read these guys their rights on the back nine? "We certainly don't need more transparency in this country. Transparency is just a fancy kind of indecent exposure, a sick counterculture idea, whether it's about the markets, accounting or giving up the names of our Houston buddies who dictated my energy policy. I say: Zip it. "We don't owe anybody any explanation for any thought or action that any of us have ever had or done." Rummy grins devilishly and skillfully balances his glass on his cast in a silent toast. "Those lily-livered liberals in Congress are outrageous — they're criminalizing greed!" Dick says. "And the spineless Republican fellow travelers on the Hill are almost worse — they'll dry up our donor base and destroy the party before they're through. McCain is just Norman Thomas with medals. "I have nothing against sharing, of course. As long as it's us getting the shares. "Our strategy is to slow down the House and Senate so these stiffer accounting and corporate-greed bills never see the light of day. Maybe you guys could accelerate your war on Baghdad. A righteous distraction would come in handy." The Pentagon boss indicates with a nod of his cast that this is possible. "Bunch of anticapitalist, world-government-loving wusses," Rummy says. "They don't understand how tough we had it as C.E.O.'s. It's lonely at the top." Junior jogs over to the Jacuzzi and tries to get Vice's attention. "Dude?" Dick waves him off and resumes his rant: "All that stands between America and socialism are stock options. Without options, companies can't lure great leaders who will take risks — with other people's money, of course. If Congress got its way, when the stock went down, the C.E.O. would lose money just like everyone else. But we are not everyone else." The president tries again to get Dick's attention: "Dude?" Dick goes on, his dander rising. "I'm sick and tired of these Sunday morning pinkos trying to impoverish the ruling class. People should get off my back about the way I cashed out of Halliburton. What's $20 million these days?" Rummy is astonished. For the first time in the many decades he has known Dick, his friend's face is no longer affectless. Dick gives the impression of something that can only be called emotion. But the Kid has finally lost patience. He jumps into the Jacuzzi, barely missing Rummy's cast, and sloshes right over to Vice, leaning into his ear and wailing plaintively: "Where's Karen?" ________________________________________ Maureen Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, became a columnist on The New York Times' Op-Ed page in 1995 after having served as a correspondent in the paper's Washington bureau since 1986. She has covered four presidential campaigns and served as White House correspondent. nytimes.com