The White House set out a strategy after the indictment of top administration Scooter Libby in the fall. Part of that strategy was to create a reset switch that would be in place and activated by the State of the Union Address. August, September and October were very bad months for the administration, to say the least. In the news vacuum created by Bush's August vacation a new spokesperson against the war was realized in a mother whose son had died in war. From stories of a vacationing President too busy relaxing to give a shit about a mourning mother outside his ranch, the White House was hit even harder when Katrina wiped out the entire Gulf Coast while the President did nothing.
Cross posted at EconoCulture's blog: Political Porn
Between Camp Casey and Katrina, Bush was in deep. Following the single moment of journalistic truth in at least a decade - when Fox reporters told Americans at home of a government totally inept and with no regard for the poor came the rat race of "Fitzmas." Fitzgerald was leak proof, which fed wild speculation about an already down administration.
Immediately following the indictment of Libby, the White House floated its reset strategy. First, they suggested that more resignations might follow - ending any lingering speculation about who might go next. They then spoke of the State of the Union as the point that would mark Bush's re-virgining of his second term.
Christmas stopped the news cycles. And then Bush was handed his strong suit: war. Soon he will get his reset, with the Democrats walking into another trap.
The NSA scandal is serious. It's serious because the President has violated the law. But this is not the first, or worst, instance of his law breaking. He's ordered the illegal invasion of a country - an act far worse than domestic spying. He's lied to the Congress. He's ordered torture. He's imprisoned Americans without charges or a trial. All of this matters, since each time the President breaks the law he rips apart the American democracy.
The only reason for Democrats to be opposed to what Bush has done with regards to the NSA must be about the ongoing pattern of disregard for the rule of law. And that's because Bush is going win if the Democrats talked about the wrongs of domestic spying.
In fact, I suspect that the NSA story serves the administration, in a way that suggests that they wanted the story to break - at this time. Why? Because the NSA scandal shifts the conversation to the "need to respond quickly" to terrorists. Never mind that Bush already could respond quickly - since details don't matter in the kind of discourse favored by the White House. What matters is that Bush can now talk about the need to fight terrorism, which I expect he'll be doing a lot during the State of the Union.
And once he does this, the clock is reset and the frame is reframed in Bush's favor. Democrats will be framed as weak and obsessed with the past. Bush will be talking of the future, and of his need to respond quickly. And the heart of the issue - the life of the Republic itself - will be ignored by both Democrats and Republicans.
And this speaks to why Democrats need to understand the value of losing, or of taking a stand. That's why they are totally screwing up by not filibustering Alito - who provides the perfect chance to take Bush's national security frame and smash it for good. A principled stand for the Republic itself, for Democracy and the rule of law, is the only thing interesting and compelling enough to once again derail Bush. Otherwise, the NSA scandal is nothing but an effective distraction along our road to tryanny.
Cross posted at EconoCulture's blog: Political Porn
Disclosure statement Tom Kertes