Thursday, December 07, 2006
Mr. Bush, do the right thing. Resign
Following the news in the hours following the release of the ISG report, I am struck by the positively obtuse nature of President Bush.
This man has been given an opportunity to rescue what little good (for lack of better verbiage) can be pulled from the Iraq disaster, and time after time he, or his toadies seem intent on shooting holes into the various recommendations of the panel.
I support the overall gist of the report only because it appears to be the only way to change direction, given this President and his preset notions about the war. By all means I would love a report that laid out the end game, and had a chance to be implemented, but we are where we are. So the ISG gives the President this chance, and he shows once again what a stubborn fool he truly is. I'm sorry if that is disrespectful, but it is the absolute truth. In todays presser with Blair, Bush was crowing about how he would prevail in Iraq! Having said that if it were only his dog Barney and himself who supported his policy in Iraq he would still press on, the President is now determined to prove the deadly sincerity of that sentiment. The ISG has provided the means to begin the course correction, yet the President insists upon further pursuing a demonstrably disastrous policy.
If the President can not be swayed despite the unanimity of opinion arrayed against him, and the course he is determined to pursue is obviously harmful and destructive to the nation, I believe he should be prevailed upon to resign his position. He should have a long heart to heart with Vice President Cheney after which the Veep resigns. President Bush then replaces Cheney with G.H.W. Bush. The President should then resign for the good of this nation, and let his father see us through ending this horrible war. The nation and the world would see this and be concurrently shocked and relieved.
If President Bush insists upon continuing in his folly throughout the course of his remaining term, the Congress ought to search for ways to implement the ISG report to the best of their ability. Appoint a Congressional delegation to open a dialogue with Syria and Iran over the Iraq issue. Cut off funding for most of the bases scattered about Iraq and specifically fund only the 5 or so that the report envisions for the short term future. End run around the President whenever they get the chance and make him irrelevant to the process. Do so with the political cover of the ISG report and make it bipartisan in nature as far as possible. Congressional Republicans know what's happening here and they certainly do not want Iraq playing a huge role in the 08 Presidential election.
I didn't mention impeachment as a solution to this particular issue, because this is not why we should impeach. We need to follow the Constitutional remedy provided when the President has been found to engage in criminal behavior. This is separate from issues of continued policy so how I see everything playing out in one regard is not a cause to apply it to other issues. Of course it is all moot if the President pulled a shocker and resigned.
Finally, there is no doubt that it would shock the world if he did resign, but President Bush actually has a history of just this sort of action in the face of adversity. His history in business is replete with failures, which when it isn't fun to play anymore leads Bush to pawn the entire affair off to daddy or daddies buddies. The President surely can not be having any fun anymore.
This man has been given an opportunity to rescue what little good (for lack of better verbiage) can be pulled from the Iraq disaster, and time after time he, or his toadies seem intent on shooting holes into the various recommendations of the panel.
I support the overall gist of the report only because it appears to be the only way to change direction, given this President and his preset notions about the war. By all means I would love a report that laid out the end game, and had a chance to be implemented, but we are where we are. So the ISG gives the President this chance, and he shows once again what a stubborn fool he truly is. I'm sorry if that is disrespectful, but it is the absolute truth. In todays presser with Blair, Bush was crowing about how he would prevail in Iraq! Having said that if it were only his dog Barney and himself who supported his policy in Iraq he would still press on, the President is now determined to prove the deadly sincerity of that sentiment. The ISG has provided the means to begin the course correction, yet the President insists upon further pursuing a demonstrably disastrous policy.
If the President can not be swayed despite the unanimity of opinion arrayed against him, and the course he is determined to pursue is obviously harmful and destructive to the nation, I believe he should be prevailed upon to resign his position. He should have a long heart to heart with Vice President Cheney after which the Veep resigns. President Bush then replaces Cheney with G.H.W. Bush. The President should then resign for the good of this nation, and let his father see us through ending this horrible war. The nation and the world would see this and be concurrently shocked and relieved.
If President Bush insists upon continuing in his folly throughout the course of his remaining term, the Congress ought to search for ways to implement the ISG report to the best of their ability. Appoint a Congressional delegation to open a dialogue with Syria and Iran over the Iraq issue. Cut off funding for most of the bases scattered about Iraq and specifically fund only the 5 or so that the report envisions for the short term future. End run around the President whenever they get the chance and make him irrelevant to the process. Do so with the political cover of the ISG report and make it bipartisan in nature as far as possible. Congressional Republicans know what's happening here and they certainly do not want Iraq playing a huge role in the 08 Presidential election.
I didn't mention impeachment as a solution to this particular issue, because this is not why we should impeach. We need to follow the Constitutional remedy provided when the President has been found to engage in criminal behavior. This is separate from issues of continued policy so how I see everything playing out in one regard is not a cause to apply it to other issues. Of course it is all moot if the President pulled a shocker and resigned.
Finally, there is no doubt that it would shock the world if he did resign, but President Bush actually has a history of just this sort of action in the face of adversity. His history in business is replete with failures, which when it isn't fun to play anymore leads Bush to pawn the entire affair off to daddy or daddies buddies. The President surely can not be having any fun anymore.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
