March 26, 2004
Clarke
So, Ethan has been semi-spam commenting about my lack of mention of the Clarke brouhaha. I've said I don't find it interesting and he, of course, accused me of being a party hack, despite that fact that he admits that should Kerry win, he will stop blogging, apparently his work for the party will be done (the sidenote is that Al Franken is going to quit his radio show then too- hahaha, like he won't be quitting because of ratings anyway. Nice setup to not embarrass yourself, Al). The truth is, I couldn't place why I didn't find the story all that fascinating. It wasn't just that I wasn't writing about it, I really wasn't reading it or following the 9/11 commission hearings. Reading Lileks just now, and his take down of the complicit media and the inconsistent Clarke, I realized why this story just isn't my thing. It's exactly as Lileks sums up:
And I bring this up . . . why? Because I want to blame the Clinton administration? Look: to me that’s ancient history. That’s Flintstone time. If it weren’t for these hearings I wouldn’t give a tin fig for who didn’t do what when and where. September Eleventh was the bright red gash that separated the Now from the La-la Then, and we’ve been living in the hot spiky Now ever since. I am interested in the Now and the What Next. I don’t have much patience for people who believe that the salvation of Western Civilization depends on hiking the marginal tax rates to pre-2002 levels. But if you want to play Eight Years vs. Eight Months, fine. Just remember that before 9/11, the skies over Afghanistan were clear. After 9/11, they thrummed with the sound of B-52s until the job was done.
No small distinction.
I too am only interested in the now and what next. I was in NYC on 9/11. Before the day was over, my place of employment- the top of the third tallest building in NYC- became a scary place to work (and was upgraded to second tallest building). My city was traumatized. People I knew were dead. War was on. As a libertarian, I believe government is almost always incompetent and inefficient. I don't expect them to be able to protect me 100% of the time. I'm amazed at the amount that they're able to do at all. And that goes for whomever is in power at the time, whether they have a (D) or an (R) next to their name. I definitely think Clinton could have done more to prove the US was still a badass in the 90's, and discourage the impression that we won't fight back when attacked, but I understand that it's not his fault (unlike Ethan's not Republican friend Peter who thinks it is): the public was watching their stock portfolios. We didn't want war. I see no purpose in accusing him or his administration for their lack of foresight and I think to accuse Bush, a president in office less than 9 months, is absurd. I've said, way, way back when this site was still hosted on blogger (scroll down to May 21), that the only way to make a real attack on Bush would be from the right, to say that he is not tough on terrorism. And here it is. It's a smart move but the American people are smarter (though Ethan, predictably patronizes Americans with a typical leftist comment about how that's not so: 'I wish I had more faith in the ability of the American people to grasp a concept as simple as opportunity cost', he writes, completely full of himself). They know that it isn't about what the president was doing on 9/10. It is about what he will do today and tomorrow.
Posted by Karol at March 26, 2004 12:25 PM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags:
Yes, but what's important about the Clarke testimony is that he argues that in the September 12th world (I use this term only for ease of understanding as I don't personally believe we have a new world.) Bush diverted resources from the "war on terror" to "war on iraq."
He argues that they lost sight of the al qaeda goal and got sidetracked, like a child who sees a shiny nickel on the ground.
(note, that although he has complaints that in the "september 10th world" the admin wasn't focused on it -- he mostly aims his criticism for the invasion of Iraq.)
Agreed. To use Churchill's phrase on the start of the Great War "the terrible ifs accumulated" concerning the events of 9/11.
Having said that, the Bush team has played its cards badly this week. Kerry took a week off and gave Clarke center stage. Clarke has proven a hard target for the White House. He was a staffer for Reagan who knows the Beltway game and plays it very well.
Bush's people made a mistake with Condi Rice. She is good on the mike; she could do ok testifying in public.
And yet.....
Per Clarke, Rice had no clue about who Al-Queda was. Now that seens a stretch to say the least but the fact that Rice will not engage in public testimony raises some concerns. Yes, there are security issues but a bigger fish in Powell could do it-why not Rice ?
The Democrats will not touch it of course. But look at Rice's background. There is a huge hole. She is a cold war warrior, who was Papa Bush's and Brent Scocrowft's main woman on Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union under the Warsaw pact. Her books covered the unification of Germany, the USSR and the Czechs, Gorbachev. And of course she was at Stanford as provost.
Soviet Union ? Eastern Europe ?
Were these the main threats facing America in January 2001 when she was named to the NSA post ?
Yes, she has shown at times that she can be media savy. Yes, she has an inspiring story of growing up in Alabama in the late 50s and early 60s that plays well on Oprah. Yes, she went to the University of Denver and joined the Gary Hart circle and, for all of his personal flaws, Hart was an interesting voice on foreign affairs and security issues. Remember Hart and Rudman chaired a committee on security that warned Clinton and Bush that airplanes may very well be used as instruments of terror by crashing them into buildings.
An impressive background. But does it make her qualified for NSA in post Cold War times ?
The conservative establishment and their allies give her a pass of course. The left generally does as well, focusing on Rummy, Cheney and Bush (though they do not give her as much of a pass as they do Powell). Even Andrew Sullivan who loved to out Democrats from Reno to Koch to Shalala egushed about her for VP without embracing the rumors that follow her regarding her sexual preference. So she has not been grilled too harshly.
But there is something missing in her resume. In terms of the Middle East and non conventional security, she has no background. In terms of her studies and experience, she has focused on an enemy that no longer exsists. I'm currently knee deep in studying a British military leader of the Amercian Revolution, his forces and his tactics. That does not make me an expert on security.
So why was Rice appointed ?
I hope Rice was not appointed to the NSA post based on race. The Dems will not touch that possibility of course; the GOP can not admit it. But if she was, she was appointed to a prominent position that she may not be qualfied for at a crucial time on our history. I wonder this, not in terms of her experience for the job, but the fact that her experience is not that relevant to modern America. She would have made a solid NSA for Reagan or Bush I. I do not know if she is the person for the post in these times.
Or perhaps Bush and his team went with her thinking we would be facing more conventional challenges. If so they were sadly mistaken.
Still, Rice is good with the mike as no other NSA was besides Kissinger. If that's the reason Bush and his team took her, then they should let her step to the plate.
Posted by: Von Bek at March 26, 2004 01:24 PMIf you click on 'way, way back' and scroll down to May 18th you can see my first blog post ever! (And notably, the first guest blog on Spot On!)
Posted by: Dawn Summers at March 26, 2004 04:44 PMForgive me if I don't spend any time at all looking for it.
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