Abdicator-in-Chief

So why has The Decider become The Hider?

Rich Lowry:

Is President Bush still the nation’s commander in chief? Yes, he continues to return the salute when boarding Marine One, but it’s a role he sometimes seems on the verge of abdicating.

He has left the question of troop levels in Iraq to the generals on the ground. Gen. George W. Casey Jr. told Bush a few months ago that they would wait and see how Iraq looked after Ramadan, which ended in late October. Well, Iraq looked worse. Now the administration seems to want to wait to see the conclusions of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group or one of its internal reviews of Iraq policy before making any new departures. In the meantime, Iraq looks still worse. As the administration waits, Iraq burns.

Bush has been at the mercy of events in Iraq. Perhaps that’s forgivable. Even Abraham Lincoln famously confessed, “Events have controlled me.” What’s less understandable is being controlled by other people’s advice. Bush has been presiding over the Iraq War for three years, and he really has no better ideas than might bubble up from his national-security council or from an Iraq Study Group including the likes of Sandra Day O’Connor and Vernon Jordan about how to prosecute the war?

Here's my theory---Dubya cannot take being hated.

His reaction to the irrational hatred he inspires in his political enemies has been to try to be nicer to them. Thus the cutesy nicknames for the press. The vacillation on policy. The unwillingness to name staunch conservatives to any post where Chuck Schumer might take offense. The relentless push for hyphenating conservatism. The gushing about serial murderer Vladimir Putin.

So Bush is set to allow the mullahs to aim their brand-spanking-new nukes our way and to sell out the Afghans and Iraqis stupid enough to join our cause in the hopes that liberals' panties unwad.

The reason we call the GOP The Stupid Party is because this is the storyline they fall for every damned time.