In this week's Weekly Standard, our good neocon friend Bill Kristol argues that Bush should use the momentum gained in a "pretty good" month of May to shed his lame duck status and "reenergize" his foreign policy - by getting tough with Iran. Of course, a "pretty good" month for Bush could be getting through it without choking on a pretzel or destroying a major American city, so what does Kristol consider "pretty good"?
More below...
First, Kristol extols the virtues of supply side economics:
Congress extended, and the president signed, the wildly successful supply-side tax cuts on interest and dividend income originally passed in 2003. The new tax rates are now in force until 2010, providing helpful certainty for the economy and the markets, and forcing Democrats in this year's congressional elections, and in the 2008 presidential election, either to accept a core element of Bush's economic policy, or to be for raising taxes.
Speaking of the economy . . . last week the Commerce Department revised first quarter growth up to 5.3 percent. Not too lame. Then we learned that new home sales had risen in April, suggesting a reasonably soft landing for the housing market. And gas prices even began to drift down. How much longer can people talk themselves into thinking the economy's in bad shape?
I guess having a rubber stamp Congress extend tax cuts for the wealthy is "pretty good" but the only "certainty" it provides is that our debt will continue to grow. "Wildly successful"? Hyperbole much? Readers of bonddad know that the economy is not as rosy as Kristol believes. I don't think that Democrats need to fear running on a platform of economic justice for the vast majority of Americans. After years of record spending, record deficits and the cost of war draining money from needed social services, it's the Republicans that are going to have to defend their "borrow and spend" policy.
Next, Kristol predicts that the House will pass an immigration reform bill that is as "sensible and comprehensive" as the Senate version. "House Republicans now show some signs of coming to realize that talk radio is not always the best source of policy guidance", he says. Thanks for the laugh, Bill. You know what else is not a great source of policy guidance? Letters from PNAC.
Kristol goes on to praise Josh Bolten and Tony Snow, who he says "took over as press secretary to rave reviews," apparently overlooking this disaster. He dismisses the outcry from both parties regarding the unconstitutionality of the FBI raid on Jefferson's office as a "silly flap", praises Medicare, and calls the joint Bush/Blair press conference "an impressive display of resolution". I call it a complete lack of accountability but let's not quibble.
So, what does Kristol conclude from all this?
As for Iran, the State Department seems to remain in charge of U.S. policy, and unwilling to come to grips with the urgency and gravity of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's challenge. Iran and Iraq are very likely to define the historical judgment on the Bush presidency. So these foreign policy splotches on the picture of a rosy May painted above are important. But if the president realizes he really isn't a lame duck, and that he has two and half years left, two and half years in which his foreign policy can either succeed or fail--he can begin to turn his attention to reenergizing that foreign policy in June.
I wonder if Kristol is really concerned about Bush's legacy - or his own, as one of the authors of our disastrous foreign policy.