We learn a lot on FR, we absorb information. But for many of us, it doesn't override our memories and native instincts. Explanations about one company buying another don't stand a chance when we get ambushed by the news that one of those companies is a Muslim Arab government owned co. and it's already a done deal by the time we learn of it.
We have a little trouble sorting out good guys from bad guys when it comes to that region. We being the common Americans.
HOW could this administration NOT KNOW that it would not SELL on that basis?
Apparently, the administration's mistake was 'misunderestimating' the ignorance of the American people.
They should have been more politically astute. However, there are mitigating factors:
The sale was not a surprise. IT was announced globally last year. We may not pay attention, but it wasn't a secret.
The date of the sale's completion was known for months, and is posted on the company's public web site. It has been in investor magazines, in the Wall Street Journal, and other places. It's not a secret.
The U.S. LAW REQUIRES that an INDEPENDENT AGENCY evaluate the deal. Bush is not allowed to control the independent agency. The law intends to take these decisions out of the hands of politicians, and give it to career officials not swayed by politics or partisanship. That law was passed YEARS ago, I believe by democrats, and the republicans have taken no steps to repeal it.
The law requires rightly that the agency do its task in secret. The agency gets to see privileged information to do its job, just like the two companies have been sharing proprietary information over the past few months. All of that is done in secret, because it is competitive information which other port companies would love to see. So the administration wasn't being "SECRETIVE", they were simply following the law as written and on the books (something the democrats insist is a requirement for the executive in MOST cases).
The ownership of the ports is public knowledge, as are the leases and the security and the locations and just about everything else there is to know. Most people have no clue, but that's because nobody ever made them care before. You know about this now because SOMEONE decided to make it a big deal, even though there was absolutely NOTHING known monday that wasn't known last wednesday.
The actual results of the independent agency audit were completed and published LAST week. All port operations were informed last week. Governor Erlich acknowledged this morning that his director of the Baltimore port was kept informed of the situation, received the final report last week, and had reported to Erlich that the deal looked fine to him. The same report was given to EVERY port manager, and I would presume they all had to report to their respective state agencies LAST WEEK. So if you just found out this week, it's because NONE OF THEM thought there was anything to care about here.
SO, What changed between Last Wednesday and This Monday?
Two democrat senators held a news conference and DENOUNCED THE DEAL. The Media picked up the democrat talking points signal and splashed the news all over the nation. IT became a big deal because the democrats signalled to the media that it needed to be a big deal.
And the Republicans in power, because they are mostly scared cowardly politicians who couldn't find their own butts to wipe themselves, (sorry about that, couldn't resist) went into full panic mode and jumped without the slightest clue as to what the real facts were.
Bush SHOULD have anticipated that republicans were stupid cowards, and that democrats were duplicitous opportunists, and the media was the democrat's lapdog.
But to them, this must has looked like just one of hundreds of deals that are made every year, that all go through this rather mundane process, evaluated by an independent agency that Bush has no real control over, making a purely fact-based decision without political considerations -- as it was meant to do by LAW.
And with DHS already holding contracts and a close relationship with both the country AND the company, there was no security concern to be raised -- we already trust DP World to oversee the inspection of containers in foreign ports before they are shipped to our country.
So they were blindsided again because they run the country like a business, making sound business decisions without regard to the political climate. At least he realised quickly the trouble, and stepped out forcefully. Threatening a veto should have made it obvious to the republicans that they had to stop being scared and step up to the reality of the situation.