CBSNews.com has a nice perspective here about President Brainfreeze...
"I'm not sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say 'this is the way it's got to be'. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders." George W. Bush, Presidential Debate, Boston, Oct. 3, 2000Put your hands down, class. It was a rhetorical question.
Ironic, isn't it? George Bush, reluctant nation builder, is now CEO of the mother of all nation-building projects.
At this stage, the president's most pressing challenge is selling the deal to wary stockholders. He's hampered by a self-created credibility gap and a tenacious refusal to abandon campaign-style jingoism in favor of candor and clarity.
This week, the administration launched a "stay the course" offensive highlighted by the president's speech to the American Legion convention in St. Louis.
What the president did was give a fine campaign speech.
What the president didn't do was address the substantive concerns about the administration's reconstruction policy directly. Nor did he level with the American people about the costs in blood and bucks.
I'm left wondering which is more important to President Bush, reconstruction or re-election?
