Posted on 08/03/2005 2:30:21 PM PDT by rface
President George W. Bush is not letting his lame duck status stop him from displaying an arrogance of power.
When a Texas newspaper reporter told him, "Power is perception," Bush corrected him, saying, "Power is being president."
In fact, Bush is proving that a lame duck has a lot of power to do what he wants to do since he doesn't have to be re-elected and, therefore, is answerable to no one.
Furthermore, he indicates he could care less whether he goes up or down in public opinion polls. With more than three years left in his presidency, the president's only political constraints may come from members of his own party.
In recent days, Bush has seen Senate Republican leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., take issue with him on stem cell research and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., put off action on his unpopular plan to transform the Social Security system.
When elected for a second term, Bush gloried in having a vast supply of political capital and assured the country that he intended to use it.
Defying warnings and appeals from several quarters, including most Democrats and many State Department officials, Bush sent John Bolton to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. It was an "in your face" move.
Bolton -- who served in Bush's first term as undersecretary of state for arms control -- carries a lot of baggage that should not belong in a diplomat's portfolio.
Bolton is a bully and was accused of abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided not to name him as her chief deputy.
Bush told a gathering of Texas journalists Monday with some pomposity that "Bolton's standing in the world depends upon my confidence in Bolton, and I've got a lot of confidence in Bolton."
In another sign that he thinks he can call his own shots, Bush has defaulted on his promise to reporters that he would hold a news conference once a month. He held none in June and July, despite the fact that there are many questions out there, including a draining war which is rarely mentioned at the White House.
Ignoring the White House press corps is one thing, but it seems that he showed an enormous disrespect for 123 members of Congress who signed two letters to the White House May 5 and June 15 asking for certain documents on the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq.
The last letter -- personally delivered to the White House gate by Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif. -- also sought an explanation of the Downing Street Memo, a British document which indicated that the U.S. and Britain agreed by the summer of 2002 to attack Iraq. That was months before Bush sought congressional authority to take military action.
The memo, written by a high-ranking British official after returning from a visit to Washington, also said that U.S. officials were deliberately manipulating intelligence to justify the war.
The lawmakers did not receive even the courtesy of a reply from the president.
For the 50th time since he assumed the presidency in 2001, Bush Tuesday flew to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, for a vacation and to bask in several legislative victories.
Among them was the passage of the Central American Trade Agreement, despite strong labor and Democratic opposition.
He plans to fly to New Mexico to sign the $14.5 billion energy legislation that provides billions in tax breaks to the oil, natural gas and coal industries. The new law is designed to promote the production of non-traditional and alternative fuels.
He also won passage of the nearly $300 billion highway and mass-transit bill that is expected to build new roads and create new jobs.
Meantime, he is expected to win a victory when the Senate confirms John Roberts for the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy, although close scrutiny of Roberts' record will give pause to anyone who cares about civil rights, affirmative action or abortion rights.
Bush is feeling powerful and satisfied these days, but I doubt that mood is matched by the people who know there is a war going on.
(Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address hthomas@hearstdc.com).
President Bush isn't a "Lame Duck." One doesn't become a lame duck until the period between when the next President is elected & when that president takes over.
I'm sure Freepers know this...but the fact the MSM keeps blabbering about it makes me think they're brain-dead.
Helen is good. She can actually sneer with words.
Amazing and repulsive at the same time, she is the epitome of her profession.
In sympathy with tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib, she now wears a "Depends" over her head.
"lame duck"?
Oh,..lame "DUCK". I thought you said something else.
Pssst...did you know Cheney's daughter is gay? Sorry, just couldn't resist stating what we would hear day after day if he were to run. Not that I wouldn't support him if he did. Because I would.
Helen Helen Helen, the President NEVER EVER cared about the polls. He cares only about protecting this country and doing the right thing.
Sorry, but I dont waste my money. Nothing could help that situation!But a good thought none the less.
I saw 1 or 2 commentators call Clinton a lame duck shortly after re-election, not many but it did happen. It irritated me then to, it's the devaluing of the term more than the insult to the man that gets me (never had a problem with them insulting Clinton, and I've grown used to them insulting Bush). I think they're trying to change the concept of the second term, traditionally that's when a president really gets to push his policy whether popular or not, opinion polls no longer hold any threat to a second term president so political compromise becomes less important and a president gets stronger; I think they're trying to weaken it, probably because a president that doesn't have to campaign anymore is a president that doesn't need the press anymore so they're trying to re-establish their own importance.
Cheny, Rumsfeld, Rice!! The kick butt team!!
Would the commie, "liberal", "Democrats" traitors have a cow or what?
You're right, she writes as ugly as she looks.
Power is being President
Stupidity and ignorance is being helin tomas
IOW, Bush is doing what he was elected to do rather than what Helen and the looney left want him to do. Their strategy all thruogh this presidency was to marginalize him, and it drives them nuts that none of it seems to work.
I don't know but clintin is just plain lame anyway and so his his self serving "wife."
Listen you old hag...
The definition of "Lame Duck" is as follows:
"An elected officeholder or group continuing in office during the period between failure to win an election and the inauguration of a successor."
So, Ms. Thomas, go jump off a bridge or something already.
None, because it wasn't true then, just like it isn't now. The only time President Clinton was a lame duck is between Bush winning the election in 2000 and his inauguration.
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