President Bush still has to learn "the buck stops here" when it comes to presidential decisions.
The "decider" and commander-in-chief seems to be trying to pass the buck, particularly if the war in Iraq implodes and he has to bring troops home from his disastrous invasion of Iraq.
The president is counting on Gen. David Petraeus - the top military commander in Iraq - and Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki to take the fall if his troop "surge" fails.
Bush is a long way from that mirage even with an expected Pentagon buildup of U.S. troops to 160,000 by midsummer.
But White House spokesman Tony Snow rejected any suggestion that Petraeus' comments pointed to September as a deadline. The president was not accepting any troop withdrawal date, Snow insisted.
More ominous is a report Wednesday by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that an unnamed Saudi source said Bush told the Saudis that he will not withdraw from Iraq during his presidency.
If true, that's more in line with speculation that Bush wants to run out the clock and pass the war on to his successor at the White House.
However, it's not far-fetched to believe that Republicans will wake up and see their reelection chances flame out if Bush continues the war until 2008.
Soon after the war started and all the false rationales justifying the invasion were falling like 10 pins, Ari Fleischer - Bush's first press secretary - stepped up to the podium in the White House pressroom and picked the battleground, declaring: "Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism." And al-Qaida took him at his word.
The mantra for Bush's new strategy in the war is called "the way forward." But if Americans have any say, it should be "the way out."
Unfortunately, our 'say' may have to wait until 11/07 unless Congress can pound some sense into the Chimp or throw his ass out.
Anyway, not a bad summation by that dear old broad. Her phone number is at the bottom of the article. I wonder if she'd like to go out...
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