Today, the President and the President-Elect will meet at the White House to discuss the bloodless change of government that is the genius of democracy. Viva la Revolución Pacífica! The economy is said to be the primary focus, but you imagine the discussion will be pretty broad in its range. Barack Obama has been getting daily intelligence briefings, so we can assume he's up to speed on world events and the status of different "situations" around the globe. He's probably not going to be too interested in advice, although you assume he'll take it graciously. Normally, free advice is worth only what you paid for it, but from a failed presidency, it's worth even less than that. Obama just wants to know if you have to dial 9 to get an outside line. This is about running the physical machinery of the White House and a smooth transition from failure to promise.There are many problems that President Obama will have to address and many of those are problems that President Bush let fester. In fact, many of these crises were caused by Bush, who's now busy pretending they don't exist. A big reason for the failures of the Bush administration is their addiction to BS; they seem to have a belief that there is no problem that isn't a PR problem. It doesn't matter whether something's going well, what's important is the perception that it's going well. If everyone thinks there isn't a problem, then there isn't a problem. Crisis management, for this crew, consists almost solely of press conferences. There is no problem that can't be talked to death.
And that's the problem with Iraq. While Bush singlemindedly pursues what he calls "victory," he ignores the problems he's caused with his boneheaded invasion of that country. Many will tell you that things are better there than they have been, but few will tell you its better now than it's ever been. Iraq is still a nation defined by instability, violence, and want. The current President wants you to think otherwise, because that's how he solves problems. The President-Elect will have to do better. Contrary to what George W. Bush seems to believe, you can't deny reality forever.
"Many Iraqis tell me that America broke this country and it is still shattered. When they look at their lives they see the lack of electricity, the corruption, the lack of clean water and much more," writes McClatchy Baghdad Bureau Chief Leila Fadel. "Security has improved but everything here is tenuous and violence, which has dropped but not disappeared, may come back."
[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
