Tick-Tock, That Darn Political Clock

12/15/2005

Paul Munnis

As a result of yesterdays editorial someone asked me if I still thought that Bush could be forced to resign? After all, he is on a high over the Iraq War, he is fighting back at his critics and he is rebounding in the polls.

Yes, I think he could still be asked to resign by his Party. As I see it he is in the midst of a rebuilding window to try to salvage his presidency. If the GOP doesn’t glow like a halo by Easter then the GOP is washed up in politics for the foreseeable future.

The Party would then have to dump Mr. Bush in order to salvage any hopes for a robust election outcome.

The first effort at damage control has been to muzzle Chaney and Rumsfeld. That seems to be working pretty well.

The next is to take responsibility for the Iraqi War onto Mr. Bush thus creating a new level of credibility for Mr. Bush as he tries to create a myth that the Intel was bad leading up to the Iraqi war. All signs are that this is false, that it was very good intel, and that Mr. Bush manipulated it for his own purposes. This is the first flaw in the Bush plan for political redemption. Lies, once exposed are highly damaging. Yet claims of lies have to be proven. We will see what happens on this matter in due time. 

Another effort is to score points in foreign policy. The CIA torture, abuse, and rendition programs are dogging him in that department and must be ranked as a failure. Mr. Sharon’s turning away fromm the roadmap to peace in Israel is another sword hanging over his head.

When one looks at the problems of a failed economy, a failed war in Iraq, failed political leadership, and a failed GOP agenda, one cannot point to a single positive thing that Bush and the GOP have provided in some five years of owning the complete Federal Government. From Social Security Reform to a failed No Child Left Behind Act to Medicare Prescription Drug Assistance confusion, the road to the 2006 election is paved with failures. It’s pretty hard to redeem oneself of the record.

That is the crux of the problem for the GOP Congress. They have rushed to legislate what has turned out to be failed programs. It’s pretty hard to run on failures, deficits as far as the eye can see, and political rancor. The bromide that “the devil made me do it,” doesn’t fly in politics. They continue down that path even now with the Patriot Act legislation.

In many ways, Congress is being unkind to Mr. Bush because in laying all of the blame at his doorstep for their mistakes he now has to mop-up after an untidy, spendthrift, and failed Congress. The public is more upset over Congress than they are over Mr. Bush. So he now has a double mess to deal with: his own, plus Congressional damage control. That’s a lot of baggage to tote and its all up-hill.

Mr. Bush has a wicked battle to fight in coming weeks and the odds are that he will fall under the load. There are so many scandals yet to be dealt with that it would take only one to bust loose and tip the image rebuilding effort onto its ear. He also has a lot of political capital he is spending on carrying aides that are pure liability. Examples are Libby, DeLay, and Frist.

Thus our thinking continues unabated that the political clock is ticking and Mr. Bush is in big trouble. In the meantime he should enjoy his moment of joy over the Iraqi election event.