White House blames Bush for woes... again

White House blames Bush for woes...

The White House sought on Monday to pin the blame for the grave state of the war in Afghanistan on the Bush administration, which made Iraq its top military priority.

"This was underresourced, underfunded, undermanned and ignored for years," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

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Boo Hooo.

Good job Obama

Obama Reaches Out for McCain’s Counsel

Gotta hand it to Obama on this one. 

Over the last three months, Mr. Obama has quietly consulted Mr. McCain about many of the new administration’s potential nominees to top national security jobs and about other issues — in one case relaying back a contender’s answers to questions Mr. McCain had suggested.

Mr. McCain, meanwhile, has told colleagues “that many of these appointments he would have made himself,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and a close McCain friend.

Fred I. Greenstein, emeritus professor of politics at Princeton, said: “I don’t think there is a precedent for this. Sometimes there is bad blood, sometimes there is so-so blood, but rarely is there good blood.”

Similarly, the Bush Administration has been especially open and transparent with the incoming Obama team. I saw a report on Sunday Morning yesterday about how unprecedented levels of coordination has been going on between the Bush and Obama teams in regards to Homeland security and Domesday scenarios. Obviously both camps care enough about this country to do everything they can to make sure the new team is prepared in the event of a terror attack soon after inauguration. So again, hats off to Obama for being smart enough to know that there is a lot he can learn from the outgoing Administration and humble enough to ask a for rival for advice. 

Can I got back to criticizing him now?

Shoe-icide

"I didn't have much time to reflect on anything, I was ducking and dodging," Bush said.

The journalist was "looking for notoriety," Bush said, adding that authorities shouldn't "overact" in their treatment of him. 

"First of all, it's got to be one of the most weird moments of my presidency," he said. "Here I am, getting ready to answer questions from a free press in a democratic Iraq, and a guy stands up and throws his shoe. And it was bizarre, and it was an interesting way for a person to express himself."

He added, "I'm not angry with the system. I believe that a free society is emerging, and a free society is necessary for our own security and peace."

Can all the Bush haters throw George a bone here for handling this pretty darn cool?

How will history judge George Bush?

Part I - Keeping the homeland safe. 

Seeing as how dubya has one of the lowest approval ratings ever for a sitting President it would be safe to assume that history couldn’t possible judge him any worse that he currently is. The criticism of Bush has been well publicized both nationally and internationally so it would be too easy to rehash his Bushism’s, his blunders, his failures (of which there are many). For now I wanted to give credit where credit it due to a man that I believe history will judge in a kinder light one day.

There was a time when Bush had a 90% approval rating and for good reason. 2001 seems like ages ago, but it’s a shame that we so easily forget what our country went through in the years immediately after 9/11. America wanted a cowboy from Texas to take charge and keep our homeland safe and that’s what we got and we loved him for it.

 

I find it almost humorous that most of the people cheering and partying in the streets Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning voted for Obama, yet have no real memories of 9/11. No recollection of the real dangers this country faced (and are still facing). There was a legitimate fear that a suitcase nuke or anthrax or smallpox or a chemical attack were right around the corner. After all, if the WTC could be brought down so quickly, so easily, weren’t we all vulnerable? Has America ever been more vulnerable?

To give credit where credit is due the country has been safe for the past 7 years. Dozen of equally sophisticated terror plots have been foiled, both in American and abroad thanks to the complete overhaul of our intelligence organizations. Bush had to dismantle the walls that blocked communication between the FBI, CIA and law enforcement, walls that were constructed by his predecessor, walls that prevented the early warnings of 9/11. For that we should be thankful.

Bush may now be a bit of a walking caricature in world circles (a caricature that we created to be sure), but there was a time when countries that didn’t have our best interests in mind were scared to death of America. Some would argue we should speak softly and carry a big stick, but I don’t think Bush subscribed to that, instead he chose to bomb everything and speak loudly (albeit unintelligibly at times). Sure hindsight is 20/20, but at the time it was this bold, take charge, aggressive action that this country needed. 7 years later we have been kept so safe that we have completely forgotten the danger we were(are) in. How quickly we forget…

… and then there was Iraq. This debate is so tiresome now that I will sum it up like this: Bush’s greatest attribute and greatest failure was being a cowboy when we needed him, but not knowing when to stop. I hope history judges him fairly in this regard. I truly hope that something positive will eventually come from Iraq, though I highly doubt any success will ever be large enough to make this whole war was worth it.

This concludes Part I.