Time: Trapped By His Own Instincts (Bush is making no progress on the Middle East.)

Time ^ | Apr. 28, 2002 | MICHAEL DUFFY

[Tuba-Dude]

And don't you know these liberals are kicking themselves today because of the Israeli withdraw...WHICH they were b!tchin' for...that was created by Bush...

[Wphile]

Bush isn't courting Jewish votes with his tilt toward Israel; he is courting Christian conservatives in his party's base who are deeply pro-Jerusalem (see box). Many Republicans who are willing to accept Bush's rightward tilt on domestic matters are growing increasingly impatient with its influence on foreign policy.

This is so amazing. Sheesh...you read any conservative magazine these days and all they talk about his Bush's leftward tilt. That's not a typo is it?

[LionsDaughter]

Solving the Middle East puzzle will take skills quite different from the instinctive judgments Bush prizes. He would need to take on Sharon and Arafat directly, sketch a plan for battling with his right flank and override Cheney and Rumsfeld in favor of Powell. None of that seems possible anytime soon. But American public opinion is unlikely to let him run in place forever.

Ahhh!!! If I hear another word about how terrible Bush is doing I think I'm gonna barf! Would all these BushBasher nuts rather have Gore running things? Or maybe they think that they could do better themselves? I think that people just need to settle down and quit trying to do the president's job for him.

[Torie]

Although the cat fight bit is overdone, sometimes presidents arrange cat fights. FDR was a master of that. Bush has to manage agendas that are in conflict. That is not easy. Sometimes the best way to manage it, is to not manage it. If he is not pushing Sharon in private however to build a wall however, and go for that rather than PA pacification, which is a hopeless and disruptive task to American foreign policy aims, then that is a major blunder.

[Uncle George]

" Bush is making no progress". No one has made any progress in 2000 years. How much can president Bush do in a year? I think he has done the best anyone could under the conditions of a hostile media and scared liberal socialists fearing he will succeed.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

(Bush is making no progress on the Middle East.)

The problems of the Middle East have roots going back thousands of years. But Bush is a screwup because he hasn't solved it in 15 months.

The libs are conveniently "forgetting" that Bubba had 8 years to fix the Middle East and all he did was help make it worse.

[LarryM]

Keep in mind this was written by the company that owns CNN. Leftists are having a wet dream on how to solve the unsolvable mideast problem.

[supercat]

Am I alone in thinking the Palestinians are being played as pawns by one or more other Arab states? To be sure, the Arabs don't really like the Israelis to begin with, but many of the Palestinians either are, or are decended from, people who were kicked out of other Arab countries and told that they should go settle in Palestine/Israel. In short, A robs B and tells him to seek restitution from C. B thinks that C owes him restitution, when in fact the real criminal was A. [BTW, see Social Security for an example of this in the U.S.]

Perhaps what needs to happen is that Israel needs to capture some land from whoever's bankrolling the Palestinians, and then give that land to the Palestinians. Then the Palestinians would no longer be in a conflict with Israel, but instead with their former "supporter" [which was in fact acting against their interests].

[okie01]

"The libs are conveniently "forgetting" that Bubba had 8 years to fix the Middle East and all he did was help make it worse."

So what if he screwed it up?

He tried!

And he cared!

[skr]

Solving the Middle East puzzle will take skills quite different from the instinctive judgments Bush prizes.

Only God will solve the M.E. puzzle. If Sen. Jack Reed thinks otherwise, he doesn't comprehend the basis of the conflict. It started with Jacob and Esau, and nothing in this world can change what's happened between those two and their descendants for a few thousand years.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Yes, but Bush is cleaning up after another Clinton mess. When Clinton forced the issue, both in Oct. 2000 pre-election (Madeline Albright chasing after Arafat, "Close the gate!") and in Dec.-Bush's inaugeration day, Clinton was still pushing his own peace plan which inflamed both sides before Bush took office. Of course then, CBS, CNN, WP and friends praised Clinton's peace efforts, ad nauseum in spite of all evidence that his interference caused mistrust of the US from both Israel and the Arab nations.

[Polybius]

There is no "progress" towards a negotiated peace to be made with terrorist leaders that are so filled with blind hatred that they send their young men and women to die in suicide bombings in order to kill elderly Israelis at Passover seders and Israeli teenagers at pizza parlors.

The only way to deal with such terrorist leaders is to identify them, corner them and then kill them.

That may be messy and Politically Incorrect but that is what Israel is doing in Gaza and the West Bank and that is exactly what George W. Bush is allowing Israel to do.

To believe that such terrorist leaders can be talked into peaceful co-existance with the Israelis is a fairy tale for children and the liberal news media.

[Windsong]

Most are liberals/libertarians/potheads who are still miffed that their guy didnt get in, so what do they do? Bash Bush! Its the only thing theyre capable of. Talk about nursing a grudge...

[Uncle Fud]

No one has made any progress in 2000 years. How much can president Bush do in a year?

Exactly right, which is why he should butt the #$)(@#$! out and let Ariel finish the job.

[cicero's_son]

Although the cat fight bit is overdone, sometimes presidents arrange cat fights.

Bump for this. The most effective administrations always have factions which allow the President some freedom of movement.

[JessicaDragonet]

Bush is making no progress

Compared to what? Compared to whom?

You know if Mr. Duffy has a better handle on this situation than Dubya does....he shouldn't be wasting time writing columns....he should be on the phone to the Whitehouse!! I'm sure Bush would appreciate hearing more advice from another arm chair quarterback.

If George Bush was the Second Coming....there would be some whiner who would criticize him for not coming soon enough! Sheesh!!

[section9]

If Bush were the Second Coming, most of these press guys would volunteer to play the role of Pontius Pilate.

This article is a combination of the usual venting from CNN/Time and some well-timed leakage from the State Department.

A lot of this crap will be solved once Saddam is put to bed, but these clown reporters are so obsessed with the Middle East that they can't see the forest for the trees.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[ladyinred]

Well the President tried to butt out, but that wasn't satisfactory to the lefties and the media types, and some conservatives!
No President of the US can solve the problems in the middle east. I suspect the RATS know this, but they had to find something to bring Bush's poll numbers down.
Those who think the left really cares about the Palies plight, are being suckered as usual.
My guess is the pro Palie demonstrations all over the place are being brought to us by the DNC.

[Allegra]

Would all these BushBasher nuts rather have Gore running things?

The liberal morons at Time magazine would. There isn't a journalist on that staff who is bright enough to know what President Bush's true intentions are in this situation. He's going to outfox them again and expose them once more for the idiots they are, but the liberal sheep will just bury their heads in the sand again.