Decius wrote:
]] Tonight, as he vowed to stay the
]] course in Iraq, Bush demonstrated another mental defect:
]] incomprehension of his role in history as a fallible
]] human agent. Absent such comprehension, Bush can't fix
]] his mistakes in Iraq because he can't see how or even
]] that he screwed up.
]
] That's pretty much how I feel about the present spin work that
] Bush is engaged in. The situation in Iraq is fucked up. I want
] to see changes on the ground. Spin doctoring doesn't influence
] me.

Bush's unwillingness to reflect on the past, either distant or recent, is a serious flaw. It is even more troublesome that despite having smart, thoughtful people on his team -- I'm thinking mainly of Rumsfeld, Powell, and Rice -- he seems largely unable or unwilling to integrate their arguments into his worldview. He seems to have adopted neither Powell's caution nor his care, neither Rumsfeld's constant questioning of assumptions nor his ongoing analysis of alternatives, neither Rice's depth of expertise nor her clarity.

Last Friday, Bob Woodward was on Charlie Rose for the hour. If you didn't catch it at the time, it is very worthwhile. You can listen in streaming RealAudio at

http://media5.bloomberg.com:443/cgi-bin/getavfile.cgi?A=22235869

Bob says something to the effect that Bush is not really thinking about or planning to run "against" John Kerry this fall. Rather, Bush is running against himself, or, more specifically, against his performance in Iraq and the global war on terror. Extrapolating from this viewpoint, it's possible that Bush will either decline to debate Kerry at all, or will go for the absolute minimum level of engagement -- perhaps a single hour-long debate in late September, for example. Bush will focus on foreign policy and national security; Kerry, about domestic issues -- health care and the economy. Mostly, they will just talk past each other.

MSNBC - About last night