Monday, May 08, 2006

Time no friend of Bush

Scandal and corruption follows total legislative control as night follows day. Without effective brakes on their administrations an ‘anything goes’ because ‘we are not answerable’ mindset is all too common.
The governments of the ‘anti-terror’ coalition all have (had) one thing in common; they had the numbers to totally control their respective political environments.
The ‘had’, in parenthesis, signifies the first partner to fall, Italy’s Belusconi.
Facing down the inevitable scandals of their administrations has meant developing a set of effective strategies. In the main, given the overall bulldozer tactics, time has been a convenient cure for even the worst excess.
Stall, deny, obfuscate and wait for another diversion to sweep it from the public eye and mind.
The Bush administration obviously had this ‘crisis management’ technique in mind, explain nothing, just do it and let time heal the wounds; when confronted with the Goss issue.
But like Belusconi, like Britain’s Blair and Australia’s Howard, time has allowed too many unresolved issues build and intertwine, the tactic is now falling apart.
Whatever happened behind closed doors, whatever the arrangements and accommodations, when Goss emerged to verbally reinforce the ‘mystery’ of his departure there were simply too many potential scenarios to allow the matter to pass quietly.
The Bush regime is now trapped in a mess of scandals from which time no longer offers escape. The next diversion will be, more than likely, another running story line from the great White House soap opera.
The best clue is the story in Capitol Hill Blue: "The lawyer for former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby said on Friday he would argue that his client revealed intelligence on Iraq after Vice President Dick Cheney authorized it and President George W. Bush declassified the information."
But if not the Plame affair there is still a wealth of other candidates to keep the Bush show in the limelight.
Bush’s partners, all apparently reading from the same script, are finding they are in the same predicament. By not addressing various ethical failures as they arise, by letting time deal with them, they have allowed a mass of unresolved issues to slowly swamp them.
Even worse, for them, almost any questionable issue now takes on a major importance. These governments have been living in a fools paradise and as we say in Australia, ‘the chooks (chickens) are now coming home to roost.’

4 comments:

Cyberswami said...

Thank you for reading my blog and leaving your comments. I have recently put up a post on domestic politics in India. You had mentioned in your comment that you wanted to read more about it, and I hope you will find it useful. Have a look, and thanks once again!

Reality-Based Educator said...

Couple the scandals with the war, the shitty economy for the middle and working classes, and high gas prices (approaching an average of $3.00 a gallon CNN reported this morning) and you have a good chance for a "political correction."

I can't wait.

Anonymous said...

I have to admit, there is nothing more interesting than seeing a canadian post comments on our president Bush.

Except for one thing: watching the mold grow on open bread, or how about counting how many blades of grass there are on my front yard.

Cartledge said...

I have to admit, there is nothing more interesting than seeing a canadian post comments on our president Bush.
Perhaps even more interesting that the commentator is Australian.
The fact is, the USA is a member of the world community, and your president has a vast influence on the domestic politics and economics of our countries.
Sorry, but the not so gentle put down misses the mark.