Not an easy time for
Scott McClellan over at the
White House lately as the
President sends him out to the
press corps to do
damage control. Let's see, there's the
hurricanes, massive
national debt,
War in Iraq, 39% approval ratings, botched
Supreme Court nomination, and
Karl Rove's visits to the
grand jury to talk about. And the photo opps with
POTUS are being upstaged, first by
Brownie, then the lady from
DOD who steals the show by prepping the troops on an open video link. Does this
president have any friends left besides
Mary Matalin? The
Administration that gave
America the Bankruptcy Act itself is standing in line looking for aid -- can it be -- from the
Democrats? It's closing in on
Final Exam time for
George W. Bush and everything in the playbook isn't working: the
Orwellian terminology, the staged events, the "hunt 'em down" rhetoric.
Americans Red and Blue are taking a reality check:
Mayor Nagin is asked by a displaced
New Orleans businesswoman: "How can you tell us to return if there's no
Wal Mart to buy groceries at?" It's the Q&A formula everyone is directing to
Washington this
autumn: How can a
national economy survive as
production is sent overseas? How can a
war be won without adequate
troop levels? How can
Social Security be privatized as
corporations falter on
earnings and
ethics? There is a
myth overseas in all this, tho, that says
America is divided. Not really, we learned after
Vietnam to support the troops - - but we also learned to ask questions. It's the bedrock of a
democracy. We still say: "
God Bless America", it's just that we're not asking
God to drown us in water and debt and body bags. Oh,
Karen Hughes, won't you please stop all the
foreign travel, march into the
Oval Office and give
George a crib sheet, turn on his
television and remind him that not only is he supposed to defend the
Constitution but he's also supposed to defend the
national social fabric.
