Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Rumsfeld isn't the Problem - Bush/Cheney is!



Rumsfeld is part of the problem. Part of our much bigger, much larger, more serious and all-encompassing problem: The Bush-Cheney administration.

The GOP's latest strategy of having Rumsfeld out front making outrageous statements, comparing critics of the Bush administration's failed foreign and military policies to Nazis and fascists suggests that Bush/Cheney will "retire" Rumsfeld right before the November election. The GOP will then turn to the voters and say "See? Bush/Cheney took care of the problem, but if you elect Democrats to Congress, they will stall out new direction and prevent victory."

Allowing Bush/Cheney to distance themselves from Rumsfeld is a mistake. Rumsfeld is only doing what Bush/Cheney want him to do. If Bush/Cheney had any objection to what was going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and how this war was being waged, Rumsfeld would have been gone long ago.

I don't believe that Bush/Cheney can find another Republican willing to administer this war as Bush/Cheney want it done. It would certainly have served Bush/Cheney better to have had a revolving door filled with Secretaries of Defense - each failing and spending months being the target of criticism and scorn. Each, however, would have focused the public's and the media's attention on how and why the U.S. was continuing the same failed strategy of the previous Secretary of Defense (all the way back to Rumsfeld).

Rumsfeld serves as a convenient distraction from the real problem: Bush, Cheney and the Republicans' governance.



No comments: