Posted on 02/23/2006 6:13:09 PM PST by new yorker 77
The conventional wisdom on the Dubai Ports World deal seems to have shifted in the last 24 hours. In the blogosphere the focus has jumped from its initial target -- the agreement itself -- to a new and familiar one: President Bush. For instance, Glenn Reynolds has decided:
I don't think there's any real security issue here, but I think the Bush Administration needs to launch a full-bore effort to explain what's actually going on, something that they still haven't really mounted...
I will admit that my knee jerked on hearing this story, and that I should have waited to learn more before offering an opinion. In my defense, I'll note that I gathered more information and changed my mind. Still, mea culpa.
But (and this is a separate point from the merits of the decision, or of my take thereon) it wasn't just me -- there were an awful lot of knees jerking on this decision, and the White House, or somebody, should have foreseen that. That doesn't get me off the hook, of course, but it doesn't reflect well on them, either.
James Lileks retreats somewhat as well:
The Bush administration may well be in the right, but they have handled this poorly – the remarks about vetoing any Congressional efforts to block the sale may have been aimed at Congress, but they splashed right in the face of the voters. The crafty response would have been to acknowledge the worries, assure a complete and total review and disclosure, and let the facts speak for themselves.
Meanwhile Tim Cavanaugh offers examples of some points he thinks Bush should have made. Like Reynolds, he says the DPW deal "doesn't involve port security, and if opponents think there's a security risk they haven't provided any evidence for that." But according to Cavanaugh, Bush is in trouble because he was caught flat-footed and unprepared to argue such straightforward points. He asks:
Who could get out of this fix?
I'll tell you who: NAFTA-era Bill Clinton, that's who! Explaining stuff like this is what Bill Clinton lived for. Just think back to that Clintonian love of factoids, that congenial explanation of the benefits that you, the listener, will directly receive, that enthusiastic drive to get you to share the president's love of policy minutiae. Clinton was great at this stuff because, whatever else he was, he was a man of the people. He understood (as Bush does) the benefit of a barrier-free market that might leave, say, Dubai Ports World providing services to American harbors. And he knew that populist panics are stupid and almost always wrong. But unlike Bush, he realized that populist panics come from deep within people's hearts, and that you have to respect that.
Critics have raised some serious concerns over the DPW deal, and it is clear that Bush made a mistake by brushing off these concerns. To be sure, there is a strong opposition that will not be won over so easily on the merits of the agreement (see Malkin, Hewitt, Huffington). So far, though, it is the pundits who are doing the backtracking, not the President.
Posted by Nick Nordseth on February 23, 2006 04:45 PM
I also find this comment of yours very offensive, you do not know jack shit about me or what I experienced on 9/11, My brother was in the parking lot of the Pentagon when Flight 77 hit the building and helped pull people out of the building. and he has been working for one of our Intel Agencies for the past 7 years
How come on TV and stuf today they were saying foreign companies rent 30-40% of our ports. Who rents the other 60-70%?
Someone who professes logic as a strength saying that the terrorists that came here to murder us had been here for a while so it no longer matters how they got here is nothing short of an imbecile, and I'm being kind.
why not a trade...
1) UAE recognize Israel's right to exist.
then we can go from there.
I hope you understand nuance and politics better than black and white.
They rent facilities within the ports; the remaining facilities are necessarily involved with trans-shipment. There are currently no U.S. companies providing these same services.
Previous history and policy became irrelevant after the towers went down. To not understand that this is a different world now is incomprehensible.
Calm down everyone. Joe and Pat B. have it all sorted out for us. (sarcasm)
They also came through Boston, does that mean that nobody from Boston should every run anything in the US?..........oh wait......
If true, and im not saying I don't believe you its just the first time i heard that. I think that should be the larger story. :),
I've been around, over, under, kicked, lied to by the best of politicians, therefore black and white, is more like red and orange.
And, I can see why you might feel that way.
I do not, and please allow me to explain why.
First, all the media (broadcast, print, and entertainment) have been in full pitched battle with President Dubya, ever since they managed to finagle the war in Iraq as a wedge issue. They do this out of jealousy for his many successes and out of pure Marxist spite.
Second, President Dubya's style is to consider replies carefully and to wait for America-haters to spend their venom before responding. (This resembles the "Greek" method of arguing, and it is the wisest of approaches.)
Our President would gain nothing by entering into a shouting match with the leftists. And, he would lose the moral high ground, to which he lays rightful claim.
I think that it is time to make the media, and their hate-filled screaming word war against Dubya (and our troops, and their mission) the issue. Not their message.
.
Let me ask you something "Yee of Ignorance" did the United Arab Emirates fund the two hijackers that came from the UAE on 9/11?
And you call me an embecile!!!!!
Indeed! He gets the big picture, and doesn't get swept away with emotions. That's exactly what's been needed with this situation.
I hinted at nothing. Simply stated facts. Your junior Senator was part of an administration that pardoned known terrorists, yet you demand no accountablity from her.
Agreed!
The only thing that happenned this time is some stupid Republicans jumped into the political boat with the Dems.
Now they're in the soup.
Haven't you heard a word he's said since then? Haven't you read what he's done?
He has stood alone and reminded us that we are still in danger when others were getting complacent.
How far from reality is your thinking, sakic?
Yes, the whole country is fighting it but we here remain the central target and the mindset of the target is different than others and if we don't want this in our backyard no one, repeat, no one should have the right to force it upon us. Do you honestly disagree with that?
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