Friends of Power

Normally I don’t venture into politics. It’s just too messy. Too many motives, too much money, and way too much spin. It’s easier being a history major to wait a few years for all the dust to settle, so that serious discussion can begin and all the factors can be weighed.

The first thing that irks me is the fact that this is what Bush is busy using to defend his legacy. He will gladly use Harry S. Truman as a shield for what he does now, claiming that we’ll all “Get It” later on and everyone will think he was a great president. I believe that the circumstances are quite different in Bush’s case compared to Truman’s case, and I don’t think you can just use the “Truman Defense” (Hate me now, love me later) to justify you actions and ignore the wishes of the voting public.

Anyway, Paul Krugman from the New York Times wrote a column today in which he discusses the political benchmarks that the Bush Administration had developed. Early in the year, the message was strong and without compromise. Clearly, America would hold the Iraqi government to high standards, saying “America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced.”

Not to slide this jab in, but doesn’t this sound a lot like how No Child Left Behind was promised to “Hold schools to high standards”? Either way, just like how No Child Left Behind clearly has it’s problems (allegations of cooking the books, lowering the standards, etc…) the case might be the same for the supposed “benchmarks” for the Iraqi government.

Politics aside, there are some times when you just read about things and just sigh, roll your eyes, and mutter under your breath, “Here we go again</i>”

When discussing the proposed oil revenue sharing legislation, and the apparent breakdown of it in Iraq, Krugman notes that:

What’s particularly revealing is the cause of the breakdown. Last month the provincial government in Kurdistan, defying the central government, passed its own oil law; last week a Kurdish Web site announced that the provincial government had signed a production-sharing deal with the Hunt Oil Company of Dallas, and that seems to have been the last straw.

Here we go again

Now here’s the thing: Ray L. Hunt, the chief executive and president of Hunt Oil, is a close political ally of Mr. Bush. More than that, Mr. Hunt is a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, a key oversight body.

I wash my hands of the issue