Observations
A few observations, I've heard a few talk radio folks, and some bloggers from the right who thought if Bush had thrown Rummy out a window a few months ago the election would have turned out different. I don't buy that; while Don was a lightning rod, his dismissal before the election would have been touted as a flip flop by Bush to gain votes. Probably rightfully so.
Rumsfeld leaving will make working with the new Congress on defense issues easier, but it's not going to have Pelosi suddenly wanting to allow recruiting on campus' in her district.
Michael Abrahmowitz at the Washington Post thinks that Bush is turning on a dime by offering to work with the new majority in Congress. I'm wondering if Abrahmowitz was expecting Bush to make a speech telling the new majority to pack sand, "it's my way or the highway". Writers and columnists with short memories forget he worked well with the opposition in Texas as Governor. Of course, those are the writers and columnists who thought that there was no partisanship on the left causing friction for the last 5 years.
William Arkin's "Early Warning" asks some good questions about the war in Iraq, and if the Democrats are really the best folks to be making decisions about it. "The Democratic Marshall Plan":
There is not going to be an immediate pullout from Iraq. It will take time, and there will have to be a plan for what happens the day after. A stubborn administration will have to be convinced -- and then forced -- to accept the war's over. The Democrats will have to take responsibility for the consequences of their demand to end the war.
Arkin is right, any of the anti-war types who think that come January when the 110th Congress convenes that the war will end, and 3 days later the troops will be home are high on something not legalized in Nevada yesterday.
The tough part for democrats may well be keeping their base happy here at home, and the respect of the rest of the world. As much as much of the far left here would like the immediate pullout that Arkin reminds us isn't going to happen. If it did it would be a disaster for the greater middle east, and cause the type of crisis of credibility world wide the Democrats couldn't recover from.
Final observation, the campus of Notre Dame is beautiful, though a pain to navigate in a large pick-up truck. Great looking buildings, tons of history and wonderful students. Unfortunately work won't didn't give me time to get into anything other than the two engineering buildings that the stuff I'm working on resides in. Maybe tomorrow will be a little shorter and I'll do some sightseeing on campus before I head home.
Technorati Tags: Rumsfeld, Congress, Bush, Pelosi, GOP, Iraq, Nevada, Notre Dame
Rumsfeld leaving will make working with the new Congress on defense issues easier, but it's not going to have Pelosi suddenly wanting to allow recruiting on campus' in her district.
Michael Abrahmowitz at the Washington Post thinks that Bush is turning on a dime by offering to work with the new majority in Congress. I'm wondering if Abrahmowitz was expecting Bush to make a speech telling the new majority to pack sand, "it's my way or the highway". Writers and columnists with short memories forget he worked well with the opposition in Texas as Governor. Of course, those are the writers and columnists who thought that there was no partisanship on the left causing friction for the last 5 years.
William Arkin's "Early Warning" asks some good questions about the war in Iraq, and if the Democrats are really the best folks to be making decisions about it. "The Democratic Marshall Plan":
There is not going to be an immediate pullout from Iraq. It will take time, and there will have to be a plan for what happens the day after. A stubborn administration will have to be convinced -- and then forced -- to accept the war's over. The Democrats will have to take responsibility for the consequences of their demand to end the war.
Arkin is right, any of the anti-war types who think that come January when the 110th Congress convenes that the war will end, and 3 days later the troops will be home are high on something not legalized in Nevada yesterday.
The tough part for democrats may well be keeping their base happy here at home, and the respect of the rest of the world. As much as much of the far left here would like the immediate pullout that Arkin reminds us isn't going to happen. If it did it would be a disaster for the greater middle east, and cause the type of crisis of credibility world wide the Democrats couldn't recover from.
Final observation, the campus of Notre Dame is beautiful, though a pain to navigate in a large pick-up truck. Great looking buildings, tons of history and wonderful students. Unfortunately work won't didn't give me time to get into anything other than the two engineering buildings that the stuff I'm working on resides in. Maybe tomorrow will be a little shorter and I'll do some sightseeing on campus before I head home.
Technorati Tags: Rumsfeld, Congress, Bush, Pelosi, GOP, Iraq, Nevada, Notre Dame
posted by Crazy Politico at 8:06 PM
3Comments:
It will be interesting to see what they can do with this, as divided and hate-filled as the Democrats are, it will probably be a fiasco from their perspective.
CP- you are one of the saner Republicans I have read in the last couple of days. I can't fault any of your observations. This war will end, and not the way that the GOP envisioned. I think pulling back and consolidating our gains in the Kurdish area would be a good start. Second, I'd like to see us get serious about finishing off the Taliban and catching Bin Laden. I, too, will be heading to South Bend to do some work at a few hospitals there. As one ex-sailor to another, I'd like to buy you a beer if our paths cross.
Tim, how many more troops do we send to Afghanistan before that looks like "an imperial endeavor?". Plus, we've already gotten NATO to take over the majority of that mission.
Iraq may well not end the way the GOP envisioned, but unfortunately I think the alternative is going to be a civil war with Iran supplying one side, Syria the other, and no one in the middle east safer, or trusting us.
Consolidating gains in the Kurdish area sounds nice, but that's the most stable party of the country. The Sunni area's are where the gains need to be worked on to get the place stable.
The other thought on that is that Murtha's "redeployment plan" has a serious flaw, Okinawa doesn't like the 20,000 US troops already there. Adding 20,000 more isn't going to go over well. Consider they've held half a dozen (at least) referendums on that island asking us to leave. Secondly, without overflight rights from China and Iran a flight from Okinawa to Iraq is about 6900 miles. It won't be a "rapid" response force.
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