"But now the Can-Do President can’t, or won’t, or isn’t even able to try"

[dajoki]

MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12388020/

Mounting problems for another administration
White House rearranges the deck chairs, but policy course stays the same

By Howard Fineman
MSNBC contributor

<<snip>>

“The Decider,” a.k.a. President George W. Bush, thinks of himself as a can-do guy. He likes to hammer away at his to-do list until he can check off every item and go fishing for the weekend. Back in the day, when I was interviewing him in the Texas governor’s office in Austin, his desk always was as empty as the deck of an aircraft carrier with all its planes aloft.

But now the Can-Do President can’t, or won’t, or isn’t even able to try. He has a long — indeed, ever-lengthening — to-do list. But circumstances, combined with his beliefs, loyalties and mistakes, are forcing him to put off to the future — or even into the next presidency — the tasks he needs to do today.

Bush has become a one-man holding action.

Some officials were upset when the president said that it would be up to his successor to decide when to end America’s military involvement in Iraq. At least one of them told me that Bush hadn’t meant to say such a thing, and didn’t mean what he seemed to be saying. But it’s true: He’s not leaving Iraq anytime soon, or even winding the war down dramatically. Yes, there are generals who think we never should have gone there, or that the way we went was horribly botched. But that’s not enough to make Bush willing to pull the plug, or even fire Donald Rumsfeld. On Iraq, in poker terms, Bush is doubling down.

Nor is he likely to make wholesale changes in his foreign policy and defense team. Bolten can rearrange the deck chairs all he wants to on domestic and economic policy. But the Axis of Believers — Cheney-Rummy-Rove-Condi — remains. The more the media and its band of Republican allies complain, the more dug in Bush will become. He’s as stubborn as Slim Pickens in “Dr. Strangelove”: He’d rather ride Rummy to Armageddon than seem to concede that Iraq was a botched project.

[gordianot]

1. Strange he mentions Strangelove, but very close to the mark.

These are not rational times.

[Olney Blue]

2. Maybe my messy desk isn't so bad after all... from article:

“The Decider,” a.k.a. President George W. Bush, thinks of himself as a can-do guy. He likes to hammer away at his to-do list until he can check off every item and go fishing for the weekend. Back in the day, when I was interviewing him in the Texas governor’s office in Austin, his desk always was as empty as the deck of an aircraft carrier with all its planes aloft.

[dajoki]

3. Just like the space between his ears n/t

[gratuitous]

4. Okay, who woke up Fineman?

Hard to fathom how the unstoppable meme of George W. Bush's "decisiveness" is now being perceived as "stubbornness." Are the media chuckleheads stirring at last from their slumbers? Or is this just a momentary somnambulent spasm? The article's from three or four days ago, so perhaps we'll see soon whether Fineman stays with his newly-discovered "botched" theme or if Howard just got a bad seat at his favorite restaurant and had to take it out on someone.

[CJCRANE]

5. * wasn't very Can-Do

on the morning of 9/11 or when Katrina hit. He was more of a "don't just do something, sit there!" kind of guy.

[CJCRANE]

6. The only time * was Can-Do

was when he flew back to Washington in the middle of the night to sign the Schiavo bill. But he wouldn't let a tsunami or a hurricane spoil his vacation.

[Toots]

7. "The more the media and its band of Republican allies complain,"

He is certainly trying to put some distance from his earlier behavior isn't he? As if he is not a part of "the Media" and has much responsibility in aiding and abetting the raping of America...