Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be news

January 5, 2006

I suppose there’s a temptation to think this is good news, but I’m having a hard time feeling encouraged.

President Bush promised to “take to heart” suggestions on Iraq he heard Thursday from former secretaries of defense and state who have disagreed — sometimes sharply in the past but apparently only mildly in person — with his approach there.

Bush offered no evidence he plans any significant changes in strategy.

The president invited more than a dozen foreign policy leaders from previous administrations, split nearly evenly between Democrat and Republican, to the White House for a detailed briefing on Iraq.

Bush tried to convince everyone at the meeting that he’s right, but he also allowed former officials to offer their perspectives in a closed-door session. The president promised to “take to heart the advice.”

What’s fascinating to me is that this is considered quite newsworthy. Before Bush, there’d be no reason to write a story that reads, “President talks to experienced experts.” It was just assumed that a chief executive would seek out a variety of perspectives and hear a diversity of thoughts. Now, the fact that the president is even willing to stay in the same room, for a short while, with a handful of former administration officials who might disagree with him, is a fairly big news story.

Keep in mind, there’s been no change in direction, no new policies, and no new positions. It’s just news that Bush talked to a couple of foreign policy experts, some of whom worked for Democratic presidents, and whose advice he’ll no doubt ignore.

Also note, Newsweek reported about a month ago that the Bush gang has crafted a new public relations strategy — which the magazine described as “more show than substance” — to help “dispel the image of the Bush Bubble.” Rove & Co. would arrange some meetings with non-sycophants and characterize it as a breakthrough.

In other words, today was probably just public-relations hackery designed to give the appearance of openness. And the media will be impressed that the president deigned to be in the same room for a little while with mild critics.

The soft bigotry of low expectations strikes again.

I agree 100%, but making him sit in meetings with people that different opinions really is a huge step. Even if he ignores their advise at least he is hearing more than he has in the past.

  • Sorry ScottW, you’re wrong. This is purely a Karl Rove public relations stunt. Nothing will change, and the media will blow it out of proportion. It’s total bullshit.

    One more thing: Until Bush admits that he went overboard to permit the NSA spying (his intentions were good, but the act was wrong), Bush will have no credibility as a man with an open mind. He has never shown an ounce of contriteness.

  • I’m disappointed with the “critics” who allowed their names to be added to this stunt. They knew full well going in that dialogue with Bush had been redefined by the WH as “monologue.” Just ask John Yoo.

  • Nothing will change, and the media will blow it out of proportion. It’s total bullshit.

    except now Democratic criticism will be blunted because it will endlessly be pointed out by the winguts that Bush listened to Democrats too.

  • This is called “government by PR”, nothing more. Get used to it, if you havent already.

    Without a transcript of what was said, it’s totally worthless.

  • It’s all about show with these people. No substance whatsoever, except that which oozes beneath the finely waxed surface. He may say that he’s getting other opinions, but that will be the end of it. Just because one hears something doesn’t mean one is listening.

    The only people Bush listens to when it comes to Iraq are Cheney and Rumsfeld, and maybe a slice of Condi on the side. He’s ignored his father’s confidants for this long…why start listening to them now?

  • In a normal world, this might be viewed as a man finally conceding that he has no clue about how to deal with the mess he’s gotten the country into in Iraq and is desperately searching for new ideas from seasoned professionals.

    My god, he even invited Bob MacNamara and he’s 89 years old!!

    The reality, of course, is that it is indeed a transparent hoax, a pathetic bit of political theater that will fool no one. Which begs the question of why he bothered in the first place. Nothing will change, and no one will ever believe he ever intended to, so what was the point?

    My answer: They still believe that cheap tricks are all they need to turn the tide. They will be wrong, and totally bewildered about why the public isn’t buying it.

    Stupid, stupid, stupid people.

  • “take to heart”?

    Kind of hard to do when you have no heart. Drew is right – these guys only know how to pretend to listen to anyone on the other side of an issue. They are only doing what they think necessary to push their agenda with as little turbulence as possible.

    It is really, really sad that this whole charade is considered “news.” It’s later than we think!

  • You guys have to remember that none of this PR is aimed at us in the reality community. It is aimed squarely at those marginal voters, who are getting kind of sick of where things are going. These are the people that are rethinking why they voted for this maroon – the party of thugs cannot afford to lose these people, since they lost us a long time ago.

  • When Bush’s public relations strategy is to now stage a phoney “break through” by pretending to listen to critics… who are concerned about an ill-planned profiteering war over “pretend” WMD in a world where Brownie does a Heckofajob, and democracy is on the march in the mideast and no child is left behind …..and on and on and on…. is truly “faith based”- cuz there ain’t no reality to back it up.

    A mental health issue is in play,,, “how much does Bush really believe his own crap.” Either way you answer this, it’s bad news for the country.

  • On PBS it was pointed out that there was well over 100 years of diplomatic and military experience in the room with Bush. The question the dems should ask is why didn’t Bush seek this type of council before and not after he got us in a quagmire?

  • If anybody had any illusions that this was anything more than another Dubya dog and pony show they should read David Sanger’s report in the NYTimes:

    Sanger writes that the “bipartisan consultation as advertised by the White House” consisted of a 40 minute briefing, followed by Bush taking questions for between 5-10 minutes from the assembled foreign policy veterans…afterwards the assembled dignitaries were herded out for a group photo.

    Brad Delong did the math on his blog…he said it amounted to approximately 23 seconds allotted for inquiries per retired Secretary of State.

    It would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic…

  • This is even more pathetic than it first appeared… it was just a photo op, with no real “dialogue.” Here’s what today’s NYT said about the “meeting”

    “But if it was a bipartisan consultation, as advertised by the White House, it was a brief one. Mr. Bush allowed 5 to 10 minutes for interchange with the group – which included three veterans of the Vietnam era: Robert S. McNamara, Melvin R. Laird and James R. Schlesinger – before herding the whole group into the Oval Office for what he called a “family picture.”

    Those who wanted to impart more wisdom to the current occupants of the White House were sent back across the hall to meet again with Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, and Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But as several of the participants noted, by that time Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had gone on to other meetings. “

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