Political Crackups-What Happens When Governments Don't Work

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/09/AR2006040900491.html?referrer=email

Political Crackups
What Happens When Governments Don't Work

By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, April 10, 2006; Page A17

In the fall of 1992, when a different Bush administration was unraveling, Shin Kanemaru ran into a little trouble. Kanemaru was the Tom DeLay of politics in Japan; he was the gruff son of a rural sake maker who became a political kingmaker, and after he got busted for taking money from the mob, gold ingots were discovered under his floorboards. In the ensuing months, two things happened. Japanese politics underwent convulsive shifts -- the ruling party split, then lost its grip on power for the first time in four decades. But Japanese policymaking barely improved. However odious the old crony boss, the alternative proved nearly as imperfect.

Today the signs of a political crackup are all over Washington. Within the administration, the White House chief of staff is going, the Treasury secretary is rumored to be going, and the defense secretary argues publicly with the secretary of state about whether he made "tactical errors" in Iraq. The president's domestic policy has shriveled to pleas for expanded health savings accounts, whose shockingly muddled design speaks volumes about the administration's lack of economic talent. In a mark of desperation, Bush has gone off script to take questions from journalists and citizens. At a forum in North Carolina on Thursday, he confessed that the torture revelations from Abu Ghraib had been "disgraceful."

The spectacle in Congress is no prettier. One cannot regret the fall of Tom DeLay, who combined a mastery of politics with a complete indifference to its purpose. Really, what did this man seek public office for? It's said that he was inspired by his conviction that the Environmental Protection Agency is like the Gestapo, but I suspect this theory is too kind. Unlike Newt Gingrich, who bristled with policy ideas, DeLay never seemed to care about anything beyond counting votes and cultivating links to the moneybags on K Street.

Still, in the absence of a functioning administration and a powerful House boss, nobody is running the asylum. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a physician who "diagnosed" Terri Schiavo by watching her on video, is as charismatic as a stethoscope and as principled as a cigarette salesman. I doubt many Americans could even recognize DeLay's successor as House majority leader, John Boehner, let alone say what he stands for. His most memorable moment came in 1995, when he chose the House floor as a suitable venue for distributing checks from tobacco lobbyists.

SHORT AND SWEET ANALYSIS OF THE DEEP DOO-DOO--READ THE REST!

[Mythsaje]

1. Democratic leaders "light on policy proposals."

Ummm. NO. Of course, if no one ever bothers to ask them, or quote what they say, or give them any air-time whatsoever, it sure seems that way, doesn't it.

More bullshit from the CM.

[DavidMS]

3. We have the ideas,

We just need to package them sucessfully.

Progressives (myself included) often think that just because we have the right solution we don't need to sell it. While conservatives take a horid proposal, put lipstick on it and it wins American Idol. We need to do better at communication our ideas.

[katty]

2. start referencing "The 4th Turning"