Bush's Make-Do Team

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002096.html

Bush's Make-Do Team

By David Ignatius
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A23

Sailors have a colorful phrase to describe a boat that is so close to the wind that it has stopped dead in the water -- unable to fill its sails and make any headway. They say the boat is "in irons."

The Bush presidency is perilously close to being in irons, at least as seen from neutral ground on shore. The president continues to lose support in Congress and from the public; his latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll rating is a dismal 29 percent. The crew is quarreling about Iran policy, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arguing for diplomatic engagement and Vice President Cheney skeptical that it will work. All the while, President Bush continues to struggle against the riptide of the Iraq war.

So how do Bush and his senior aides hope to keep momentum going for the ship of state in such a difficult period? I put that question to several senior administration officials during the past week, and their answers surprised me -- not because they have a clear plan of action, but because they don't see the Bush presidency in as dire straits as many outsiders do.

"I don't think the president believes we are on the cusp of failure," says one senior official who sees Bush almost every day. This official says that when trying to recruit people to the administration, it's not "how to persuade people to row out to the Titanic and get on as it's starting to list. It doesn't feel that way."

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[havocmom]

1. bush may not believe "we are on the cusp of failure" but his beliefs don't change reality

Reality doesn't care what bush thinks. Magical thinking is not a sound basis for policy decisions.