A ‘world of crises’

July 6, 2006

The Washington Post considered the global landscape today in a front-page piece and concluded that Bush has more challenges than he knows what to do with — or may be prepared to handle.

From deteriorating security in Afghanistan and Somalia to mayhem in the Middle East, confrontation with Iran and eroding relations with [tag]Russia[/tag], the White House suddenly sees crisis in every direction.

North Korea’s long-range missile test Tuesday, although unsuccessful, was another reminder of the bleak foreign policy landscape that faces President Bush even outside of Iraq. Few foreign policy experts foresee the reclusive Stalinist state giving up the nuclear weapons it appears to have acquired, making it another in a long list of world problems that threaten to cloud the closing years of the Bush administration, according to foreign policy experts in both parties.

“I am hard-pressed to think of any other moment in modern times where there have been so many challenges facing this country simultaneously,” said Richard N. Haass, a former senior Bush administration official who heads the Council on Foreign Relations. “The danger is that Mr. Bush will hand over a White House to a successor that will face a far messier world, with far fewer resources left to cope with it.”

The Weekly Standard’s William Kristol gave the Post a helpful summary: “[tag]North Korea[/tag] is firing missiles. [tag]Iran[/tag] is going nuclear. [tag]Somalia[/tag] is controlled by radical Islamists. [tag]Iraq[/tag] isn’t getting better, and [tag]Afghanistan[/tag] is getting worse.”

It’s quite a legacy, isn’t it? Forget spreading democracy around the world, which was always a hollow rhetorical promise anyway; we’re looking at a landscape that is more dangerous, less stable, and less friendly to the United States than at any time in recent memory.

And what does the White House, which ran on a [tag]national security[/tag]/[tag]foreign policy[/tag] platform, plan to do about these challenges? As Kevin Drum explained, the Bush gang hasn’t quite figured that out yet.

[T]he Bush administration literally seems to have no foreign policy at all anymore. They have no serious plan for Iraq, no plan for Iran, no plan for North Korea, no plan for democracy promotion, no plan for anything. With the neocons on the outs, Condoleezza Rice at the State Department, and Dick Cheney continuing to drift into an alternate universe at the OVP, the Bush administration seems completely at sea. There’s virtually no ideological coherency to their foreign policy that I can discern, and no credible follow-up on what little coherency is left. […]

So [Bush] spins his wheels, waiting for 2009. Unfortunately, the rest of us are left spinning with him.

I realize that there are several dozen people who are already laying the groundwork for a 2008 presidential campaign, but why would anyone be anxious to try and clean up Bush’s unprecedented global mess?

Hey, this aint like prunes, CB–are three too few are six too many? One crisis (take your pick, large or small) is too much for Dear Leader.

  • Again, this all goes back to Dubya’s real problem: He’s all about campaigning and has no interest in governance. Look how he’s starting to backpedal on his immigration plan because House Republicans don’t like it and don’t think they can win on it.

  • “The danger is that Mr. Bush will hand over a White House to a successor that will face a far messier world, with far fewer resources left to cope with it.”

    That the world will be a far messier place for Bush’s successor is guaranteed. I disagree with the last part, though. There are plenty of resources available to cope with it, and good people to use them.

    The trick is having someone in charge who is committed to finding honest solutions to the world’s problems, who has the skill, intellect, integrity and interest to actually do it. Bush has none of these, nor do any of his flunkies.

    Bush is just waiting for it all to be over. And so are the rest of us. What do you know, something we can all agree on. Finally!

  • Nice of Bill Kristol to chime in on how bad everything is, since he and his cronies are largely responsible for most of it. Asshole.

  • Damn it Frak, you beat me to it again!

    What I was going to write:

    “The Washington Post considered the global landscape today in a front-page piece and concluded that Bush has more challenges than he knows what to do with — or may be prepared to handle.”

    Why in the world does the WaPo think that Bush is capable of handling even one?

    I think the first three commentors all have good points. The Bushites politic, they don’t policy. They are not capable of handling even ONE crisis, and just about any honest and honorable person could use the resources of this country to deal with all these threats, if he were just willing to ask the American People to…

    …sacrifice, just a little.

  • Does the administration have a plan for anything? Other than political games, which is a given. Seriously this president and the republicans in Congress seem to be doing nothing except pandering to the dwindling number of people likely to support them. Not only pander, but pander in spite of knowing the “initiative” aren’t going anywhere.

    I have never really thought Bush was really “into” being president. I mean I think he was looking to rehabilitate his image and maybe do things his father couldn’t/wouldn’t, but I never really got the feeling that he was really into doing the day to day activities of doing the president’s job. Heck, look at how much time he spends in Crawford (and yes he still can work in Crawford but the location does make a difference) and other places than in White House and look how much he handed off to Cheney. I think what little interest he had in doing a presidents job disappeared when he had to you know, work. When it got to be “hard work” he lost interest and now only works to pretend he cares.

  • I think a lot of the problem has to do with what Edward alluded to. That this administration (and the modern day GOP) cares about one thing, and one thing only: winning elections and holding on to power.

    The problem is that the only thing they do with that power is reward those who helped get them elected.

    And while these issues are serious, they can be resolved with careful thought and hard work, two things this administration isn’t exactly known for.

  • This is what happens when you give control of the government to a party who “…thinks government is the problem”. If ever there was an argument for Democratic control of the Federal Government George W. Bush has made it loud and clear. The Republicant’s are great at balancing out the Democrats and creating course corrections when needed. They are the pole and Democrats are the unicyclist on the high wire. Sure the pole can balance there but it is a one trick pony. (I must want to go to the circus).

    The next President needs to go on a world tour with hat in hand and a trunk full of economic incentives. We need to get teh world back on our side.

    Anyone who has ever seen W. eat a pretzel, or ride his mountain bike in Scotland, or bop around the Summer home on a Segway scooter is well aware that he cannot face multiple challenges at one time.

  • MNProgressive (#8)
    “The next President needs to go on a world tour with hat in hand and a trunk full of economic incentives. We need to get teh world back on our side.”

    There may be one problem with this approach (I don’t disagree with the idea). In addition to all of the foreign policy problems I don’t think that our underlying economy is very good. The next president may not have a wheelbarrow full of cash to dole out.

  • Getting out of bed (and back to it) is a problem for the Regal Moron. Completing a sentence is a real problem for him. As to the ‘world of crises’ I’m reminded of the Kingston Trio hit, Sheldon Harnick’s “The Merry Minuet”, recorded at SF’s The Hungry i

    They’re rioting in Africa, They’re starving in Spain
    There’s hurricanes in Florida, And Texas needs rain

    This whole world is festering with unhappy souls
    The French hate the Germans, The Germans hate the Poles
    Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
    And I don’t like anybody very much

    But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
    For Man’s been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud
    And we can be certain that some lovely day
    Someone will set the spark off…and we will all be blown away

    They’re rioting in Africa, There’s strife in Iran
    What Nature doesn’t do to us will be done by our Fellow Man

  • Marcus reflects my thoughts. I do think a competent successor could very quickly sove a lot of Bush-produced problems. But the debt is another matter. And the sheer number and depth of crises from Bush’s orgy of national self-destruction leaves us hamstung for at least another decade.

    Lest we ever forget — Bush, his cohorts, and the Republicans are responsible for every bit of it.

  • Bush has been rather succesful in what he cares most about — furthering his near-sighted, conservative beliefs. The problem is that his conservative beliefs don’t recognize the reality-based world. Unfortunately, to paraphrase Dumsfeld, “reality has a say.”

    And freedom is on the march, don’t you know.

  • Which is why we could use someone like this:

    “In March of 1999 as Slobodan Milosevic unleashed his army and police on the people of Kosovo, Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO’s supreme commander, was given the first military mission of its kind, directing the forces of a 19 nation alliance to end a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing. The stakes were monumental.

    “Almost a million people had been driven from their homes solely because of their ethnic and religious background. Success would save lives, strengthen NATO, advance the cause of freedom, democracy and unity in Europe. Failure would leave much of the continent awash in a sea of refugees and end the 20th century on a note of helpless indignation in the face of evil.

    “Wes Clark well understood the perils of the Balkans for he had already played a vital role in ending the war in Bosnia and beginning the long process of building a stable, multi-ethnic democracy in that country. He summoned every ounce of his experience and expertise as a strategist, soldier and a statesman to wage our campaign in Kosovo. He prevailed miraculously without the loss of a single combat casualty.

    “At the apex of a long and distinguished military career that goes back to his outstanding performance as a cadet at West Point over 30 years ago, he was assigned a challenge many experts thought was mission impossible. Instead, thanks to Gen. Clark, we now can declare it mission accomplished.”

    -President Bill Clinton, August 9, 2000

  • MNProgressive hammers the nail on the head I believe. The GOP feels that government in and of itself is the problem with society; that if you remove government institutions, the magical free hand of the market will provide for society’s governance -private firms will take the place of various government departments, charities will provide for a safety net. Well, if you honestly believe this to be the solution, take a long hard look at the Bu$h admin’s response to Katrina, then ask yourself are we better off with a government that provides basic services to it’s citizens, a government that creates an atmosphere in which it’s citizens prosper, or do you want a government that leaves people out to dry, at the whim of a for profit business entity?

  • marcus alrealius alrightus – “I don’t think that our underlying economy is very good. The next president may not have a wheelbarrow full of cash to dole out.”

    True, however, what the next president can do is look at some of the policies we have on trade and offer compromise. Bush is so dogmatic and rigid across the board that you go in offering little things that the other guys want and re-establish positive relations.

    There are non-econonomic ways to start to repair the damage as well.
    – Sign on to Kyoto
    – Stop threatening to begin a new round of “newklear” testing
    – Offer deal to import oil from Venuezuela and not OPEC?
    – Fire Joh Bolton and hire a real diplomat
    – Close overseas military bases in nations that don’t want them and build new ones in nearby nations that do (two birds wit one stone there)
    – Place pressure (no matter how small) on Israel to comprimise on Palestine and stop blowing up everything they see
    – Lead an international effort to do something with Africa. If global warming were a continent, it would be Africa
    – Talk directly to Iran and North Korea et al like adults and stop pretending they do not exist until they threaten to blow us up.
    – Open up relations with Cuba (one of the most pointless policies we have)

    Now just imagine if I had a foriegn policy advisor! Damn I would be awesome!

  • “Why does anyone think there will be a “successor” to Bush in ’09?” – TCM

    There are so many ways to take that 😉

    No, I don’t think the Rapture will come before 2008.

    No, I don’t think he’ll destroy the world in a Nuclear War with Russia or China.

    No, I don’t think even Boy George II would declare a suspension of the electorial cycle.

    The Republican’ts could get a Constitutional Convention off the ground that would change the two term rule, but somehow I don’t think even they could get the change to apply to Boy George II. Not that he would be able to win again in 2008 even with Diebold.

    But I’ll spin you one. Google the phase ‘North American Union SPP’. If you can stomach it (block popups, or Ann “the Bitch” Coulter will apear), read some of the wingnut paranoia there (many by Swiftboater extrodinaire Jerome R. Corsi himself. How the worm turns.). Then imagine Boy George II being sold a bill of goods that HE could be the first president of the North American Union. He lives in a bubble, after all. His strawman are actually Republicans who aren’t neo-conservatives. He never hears from the rest of America (or Mexico or Canada). He has no grasp of reality, but he must know he can’t be President of the United States after January 2009. This might well be his next job assignment from the Texas Mafia!

  • You folks are a real hoot.

    Never mind the fact that President Bush inherited a completly dysfunctional government. Ignore that Terrorists around the world had decided that the United States was a helpless giant and could, and had been, attacked with impunity.

    Ignore that the 9/11 attack occurred before his team even had their desks organized–thanks in large part to court challenges and Senatorial obstructionism. Also ignore that there has been no further attacks on American soil.

    Ignore that North Korea played the Clinton crowd like a bass violin. As did the Iranians.

    Ignore that the economy is great shape and unemployment is at historical lows.

    Maybe you start to get the message.

    You folks are in a dream world, which is another way of stating that you are full of “it”.

    Have a nice life.

  • Bob the Troll has arrived. If he’s civil, he can stay. Play nice.

  • Bob Gilkison – You are so right! I was reading all these mindless insults written above and wondering if I was the only informed person wasting my time here. Glad you were out there to state some facts for this crowd. Thanks.

  • “Ignore that the economy is great shape and unemployment is at historical lows.”

    Bob, you are right that some economic statistics look pretty good. Like you say, unemployment is pretty low — almost as low as it got in the late 1990s. But take a look at the poll conducted by American Research Group, Inc. on June 128-21, 2006. According to the poll 34% approve of the way Bush is handling the economy, and 61% disapprove. I didn’t cherrypick this poll; its results are in line with other polls. So what’s with the 61% disapproval? Why are they dissatisfied? If you are going to claim the economy is great, you have to explain why so many people think it isn’t.

    I am pretty sure I know the answer. Take a look at what’s happened to median wages and median family income in recent years. Ordinary people are running in place. Sure, it’d be worse if more of them were unemployed. But they’re not happy.

  • Sorry, that poll was June 18-21, 2006. BTW, 52% said the economy was “bad,” “very bad,” or “terrible.”

  • It might be interesting to note that the labor force participation rate has declined every year since Bush has been in office. Rough calculation using BLS statistics shows 3 million less people working than when Bush came into office. Did we have a dramatic increase in stay at home mom’s since Bush took office?

    That’s always the rub about using unemployment figures. They don’t count people who have given up looking for work.

  • Sounds like your typical liberal bash the White House bitch session, not only from the Wash. Compost but also the sorry comments posted heretofore. When I took my oath of office, I never quite understood the part re: domestic enemies. Now I do.

  • Once again, congratulations Mr. CB. Your cadre of trolls is growing. That’s good. The more bedeviled little minds to be exposed to some rational thinking. Welcome Trollskyites. Read your fill.

    From a really smart, latte sippin’ kind of magazine the Trollskyites probably don’t read much.

    http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060710fa_fact

    A single, truly informed paragraph from Seymour M. Hersh’s latest reality based report from the front……..

    Leverett told me that, without a change in U.S. policy, the balance of power in the negotiations will shift to Russia. “Russia sees Iran as a beachhead against American interests in the Middle East, and they’re playing a very sophisticated game,” he said. “Russia is quite comfortable with Iran having nuclear fuel cycles that would be monitored, and they’ll support the Iranian position”—in part, because it gives them the opportunity to sell billions of dollars’ worth of nuclear fuel and materials to Tehran. “They believe they can manage their long- and short-term interests with Iran, and still manage the security interests,” Leverett said. China, which, like Russia, has veto power on the Security Council, was motivated in part by its growing need for oil, he said. “They don’t want punitive measures, such as sanctions, on energy producers, and they don’t want to see the U.S. take a unilateral stance on a state that matters to them.” But, he said, “they’re happy to let Russia take the lead in this.” (China, a major purchaser of Iranian oil, is negotiating a multibillion-dollar deal with Iran for the purchase of liquefied natural gas over a period of twenty-five years.) As for the Bush Administration, he added, “unless there’s a shift, it’s only a question of when its policy falls apart.”

    From the post: “I am hard-pressed to think of any other moment in modern times where there have been so many challenges facing this country simultaneously,” said Richard N. Haass, a former senior Bush administration official who heads the Council on Foreign Relations.

    Trollskyites, your heros are imbeciles. They are rhyme-less, reason-less and without a lick of senseless. Our own guys are the challenge! What is it about this rudderless administration that you guys find so compelling? If the plan isn’t to devolve into chaotic pointlessness, then what other clue of a plan can there be? I’m stumped.

    Shine those boots up Trollskyites. March in step. Right over the edge. But don’t hold my hand sucka. I ain’t going with you.

  • Burro — you must have been reading my mind as I was just thinking that there seems to have been more Bush lovers dropping by today than in the entire time that reader comments have been available here.

    I would say to any of these new guests if you want to convince me that Bush is such a good president then convince me with factual information, not the latest Limbaugh/Hannity/O’Reilly/Savage/et. al. talking points.

  • Hello M.A.A. Absolutely.

    Dear Trollskyites, this is the clear headed, perfectly reasoned plan envisioned by your Dear Leader and his minions and manipulators: (also from the article by S.M.H.)

    “In contrast, some conservatives are arguing that America’s position in Iraq would improve if Iran chose to retaliate there, according to a government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon’s civilian leaders, because Iranian interference would divide the Shiites into pro- and anti-Iranian camps, and unify the Kurds and the Sunnis. The Iran hawks in the White House and the State Department, including Elliott Abrams and Michael Doran, both of whom are National Security Council advisers on the Middle East, also have an answer for those who believe that the bombing of Iran would put American soldiers in Iraq at risk, the consultant said. He described the counterargument this way: “Yes, there will be Americans under attack, but they are under attack now.”

    Did you Trollskys get that? “Iranian interference would divide the Shiites into pro- and anti-Iranian camps, and unify the Kurds and the Sunnis.”

    Who the fuck needs triangulation when you’ve got quad, hex, hell…octangulation? Let’s see. If we move fifteen steps to the right and back up three, no, no…make that five steps and then turn around 57 times and touch our nose to our left knee…then we fucking win. We Win, We Win. Those Ruskies and Chinese don’t know about global politics like we do. Hell no. We ought to drop some bombs of some kind on each one of them just so they don’t get uppity again and think they can outthink us. ShrubCo wins again.

    Where’s my bike Karl, it’s time for a ride. Yeah, yeah, I know. There’s still good American soldiers under attack, but they’re under attack already. They’ll just be happy to know we won. It’ll lift their spirits to know we’ve got a handle on all this.

  • “Ignore that the economy is great shape and unemployment is at historical lows.”
    Comment by Bob Gilkison (#19)

    WHOSE economy? If you’re living off your investments, you’re in clover (unless you travel, or like to buy books published outside US; our dollar is scouring the bottom of the toilet) — you’re protected everry which way, including no taxes. Ditto for CEOs of big corporations; with a few million a year in compensation plus stock options, you don’t need to worry about the next dentist’s bill.

    But, God forbid, you try to make your living off that four-letter word: “work”, and your world is right there with the dollar. Even small businesses are gasping, in their attempt to run fast enough to keep up.

    So, I’ll ask again: WHOSE economy is it that’s flourishing?

    The “unemployment is at historical levels” because you can collect unemployment benefits for a limited amount of time only; once you’ve exhausted that avenue — still without finding a job that’ll support you…YOYO (you’re on your own), and off the chart. You no longer clutter up the Administration’s sunny horizon with your grimy realities.

    I agree with previous commenters; CB must have arrived (“he has arrived” happens to be my maiden name, which adds to my amusement); he now attracts true trolls, with no original thought (or even sentence structure) to contribute. I don’t mind *thinking* conservatives; their views — if considered — can add spice to the general conversation, without lowering the tone of same.

    I discovered (“with a little help from my friends”. Make it: “from my son”) the Carpetbagger Report, and was struck by the difference between it and the rest of the “lefty” sites I’d looked at; have been hooked on it (CB) ever since — about a month or so. But I don’t think I like the trolls or the way they seem to suck the energy from the rest of us (could they be called vampires, instead?). We waste our time debating them, when there’s no debate in them — they’re like the automatons from the Tales of Hoffman. Just wind them up, and off they go, spouting the programmed lines. Sad. And boring.

    CB: I sure wish you’d bit your tongue before you said you’d like to draw more audience for this place…

  • Mr President,

    It is generally good to be able to unite much of the world in a common cause. It is unfortunate that the common cause seems to be anti-American.

    I am sure you will be relieved when your term of office is over.

    We will too.

    Your boss,

    John Q. Public

  • Trolls are a fact of Internet life and I have fairly well gotten used to it. But I have come to the conclusion that some percentage of them are probably paid operatives. After numerous instances of Republican operatives whose sole purpose was to help out the administration, the name Jeff Gannon comes to mind, why should I assume any less. How else can you explain why they would spend extraordinary amounts of time peddling useless talking points with people they disagree with. The sad part about it is that we are getting a poor return on our tax dollars if the trolls can’t present their arguments any better than they do.

    • Comments are closed.