The April 13, 2007 edition of Charlie Rose featured a roundtable discussion with various writers, editors and reporters. One topic involved perceptions and reality about Iraq, the efficacy of the surge and the bombing of the Parliament inside the Green Zone. Martha Raddatz of ABC News commented that no one she has talked to within Iraq has any thought that the United States will "win" the war in Iraq by any traditional measure. Any debates about short-term and long-term tactics involve minimizing the worst case scenario, not achieving the original claimed goals for the war. Apparently, the only three people on the planet who haven't reached this conclusion are George Bush, Dick Cheney and John McCain.
All of the guests concurred they have NEVER seen a president more isolated from Congress, the American people or the world than George Bush. Not even Johnson in 1967-68 at the height of the Vietnam protests when he already decided not run for re-election. This degree of isolation is truly frightening when one considers:
a) Bush PREFERS isolation and loathed external / dissenting opinions from the start.
b) Bush's isolation and resulting ignorance has produced disasters with EVERY problem and policy he has addressed, alienating him from even people in his own party who could provide better advice.
c) With only 20 months left in his term and all the disastrous chickens coming home to roost, absolutely NO ONE with a brain or sense of integrity will be willing to serve in his Administration. Why bother? You're going to be ignored yet tarred by association with the absolute worst presidency ever. Who needs that?
So what kind of ideas and decisions are going to be made when no outside air is reaching the Situation Room? No good ones, that's for sure. Maybe ideas like hiring a "war czar" to coordinate war strategy, which, based on my last read of Cliff's Notes on The Constitution was clearly George "Wartime Commander-in-Chief" Bush's job. (Does Bush only like playing CIC when he gets to wear a flight suit?) The lack of interest in anyone taking the "czar" role is the latest confirmation of the damage done to the Executive Branch by this Administration.
The self-imposed anti-reality bubble around George Bush and his inner sanctum doesn't itself constitute an impeachable offense, but its impacts are the most appropriate motivation for pursuing impeachment. His botched decision to topple Saddam, the botched handling of the resulting war, the botched response to Katrina (a disaster he failed to even MENTION in both the 2006 and 2007 State of the Union addresses -- see #1 and #2), and his politically motivated management of regulatory functions are ample proof there is far more damage he can still generate unilaterally without a single Congressional vote in direct opposition to the will of the country.
If an Administration's reputation has become so toxic that no one is willing to serve their country at arguably one of the most crucial points in our history, it's time for the President to leave. If you aren't worried about an isolated, unsupervised George Bush and what he could yet do to damage our country and our position as a force for good in the world, you simply haven't been paying attention.
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#1) http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2006/
#1) http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/
