| Tuesday, October 04, 2005 |
| The axis of mediocrity |
John Aravosis just made the pivotal point during his debate with Joel Mowbray on "Connected": George W. Bush, in choosing Harriet Miers, has closed the circle of mediocrity for his presidency. Just as he was clearly underqualified for the job he now holds, he has now transferred that mediocrity onto the Court (after aguably making an intellectually superior and more attractive -- if equally ideologically vague -- pick in John Roberts). Most importantly, this was clearly George Bush's decision -- not Dick Cheney's, not Karl Rove's not anybody else's, and because it was his pick, it speaks to his governance and aptitude. After Iraq and Katrina and the deficits and the rest, Americans are belatedly coming to grips with just how little aptitude there is in the White House.
As Aravosis put it: "you elected a puppet, and your puppet just realized he's president and he can do whatever he wants."
Ouch...
Update: The right is beginning to ask the previously unthinkable questions: Does the president have "contempt for his own base?" Does he "prize personal loyalty to himself above all else," including the philosophical conservatism he says he believes in? And why did the president so clearly walk away from a national discussion/fight/struggle over the use, role and direction of the courts? These are key questions for the right, which must decide whether it is going to put personal loyalty to the president -- including the almost cult-like devotion its spokesmen and ground troops have exhibited since 9/11 -- ahead of their core principles. And if they're going to throw the philosophical baby out of the moving car in order to save it and ride with Dubya, do their ideas even matter at all?
On the flip side, Democrats are going to have to have a similar "come to Jesus" moment very soon -- and decide where they stand on the big issues that seem to be pulling George W. Bush's presidency apart: Iraq, government spending, the courts, religion in public life, and more, and they're going to have to present a more coherent, salable stand on the issues that they have managed to either enshrine or avoid, like abortion and gay marriage. Otherwise, Bush's problems won't be worth a warm bucket of spit to them in the '06 or '08 elections, when they will have the chance to regain power by filling the vast leadership void being left by the corruption, excess and incompetence of the GOP.
Tags: politics, News, Bush, Supreme Court |
posted by JReid @ 12:22 PM   |
|
|
|
|
