It is a depressing list of foreign policy mistakes, disasters, and otherwise general bad news: Iraq is at best treading water, and at worst spiraling into civil war; Iran is blatantly moving ahead with plans for nuclear weapons; The Taliban are slowly creeping back into power in Afghanistan; The North Koreans test-fired a long range missile capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States; and the Israelis are fighting a war with Hezbollah on the frontier with Lebanon, eerily reminiscent of the 1978 invasion that led Hezbollah's creation.
And what is the most significant action taken by the Bush Administration in the past week? The first-ever veto by this Administration, five-plus years into power, of a bill. About stem-cells. A morally powerful but generally insignificant piece of legislation.
Last week the President, renowned as NOT one of the United Nation's biggest fans, was musing aloud to British PM Tony Blair about the current crisis in Lebanon and the UN's activities there, in front of an open microphone at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. "See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this (expletive) and it's over." He then went on to express to Mr. Blair that he feels "like telling Kofi to get on the phone with [Syrian President Bashar] Assad and make something happen."
Does anyone else see the irony in this? (There certainly is a lot of it, here. I am just not sure that the President understands exactly what is ironic about this whole affair.)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, gas prices are spiraling out of control, the economy is coming to a rip-roaring halt, Congress is spending money like a drunken sailor on shore leave, the Department of Homeland Security has done absolutely nothing to improve Homeland Security in the almost five years since September 11, 2001, and we are in the early stages of a hurricane season which promises to resemble the Monday-morning rush at the Lincoln Tunnel.
And the President finally remembers that he can veto legislation by the Congress.
The second Tuesday of November 2008 can't come here fast enough.
