The New York Times (subscription required) is running a
story in which Scott McClellan says that President Bush will now answer all the questions of the 9/11 panel. Sounds good right? BUT he still won't speak to the entire panel. AND he still won't agree to spend as much time as necessary with them.
Basically, nothing has changed.
The
perception however will be that Bush is being more amenable to the panel, blunting Kerry's criticism, but the reality is that he's still stonewalling. Furthermore:
Mr. McClellan said today that the administration had not obstructed the commission's investigation.
"This administration has provided unprecedented cooperation to the 9/11 commission," he said. "It provided access to every single bit of information that they have requested."
As I recall, the PDBs (Presidential Daily Briefs) are still subject to the limited viewing of selected members of the 9/11 panel, so how does that constitute 'unprecedented cooperation'?
Oh, right, it's unprecedented in
this administration.