So now Condi Rice
will testify, and the president and vice president will testify in front of all 10 members (in private) rather than just the chair and vice chair.
Clearly, because the president doesn't need polls or focus groups to tell him how to make up his mind, here's what must have unfolded during the past week: The president and his top advisers spent hours discussing various theories of the constitutional separation of powers, examining the precedents, and generally ruminating on the significance and standards for claiming executive privilege, both for the immediate as well as long term. They brought constitutional scholars to Crawford as the president vacationed, and in long, tedious sessions weighed the merits of the various and competing theories related to the separation of powers, never for a moment averting their eyes from the broader goal of preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution.
When they came out on the other side, this always-humble, self-effacing Administration arrived at a reasoned, measured, high-minded conclusion that, in order to uphold the country's highest principles, their initial resistance to allowing Rice to testify in public and under oath was bad for the country and our Constitution, and reversed their position accordingly.
This is the sort of thoughtful, bold, decisive leadership we've come to expect from our president. Isn't it comforting to know that the people running our country are the sort of principled "adults" George Will assured us from the very start of the Bush Administration had now risen to power?