No one topic for today, readers. Instead, as is my occasional
custom, here is a hodge-podge of observations:
Item One: Again and again during and since the
Libby trial, we read that the trial exposed the nasty underbelly of
the Bush administration. This is — to put it less bluntly than it
actually ought to be put — flat-out nuts. There was nothing, zero,
zilch, nada, wrong with what Libby (or Cheney) did. Where, oh
where, is it written that public officials should refrain from
telling journalists that an inaccurate story in the public square
is, indeed, inaccurate? Where, oh where, is it taught that it is
unseemly to mildly question the motives of somebody who is
repeatedly telling lies in public? And why is it a bad thing for a
vice president to direct his top aide to defend administration
policy, or for that same vice president to scribble a note
expressing concern that his aide and friend is being made a fall
guy for somebody else. (As it happened, Libby was made into a fall
guy not for the rest of the White House, but for the
Armitage/Powell State Department. Both Armitage and Powell should
be shunned from all polite company for letting Libby and the whole
administration twist in the wind for so long when they could have
cleared up the mystery of the “leak” more than three years
ago.)
Now, if Libby did indeed commit perjury (I still do NOT believe
that he did), that would be something bad. But absolutely nothing
that he said or that Cheney said, or that Armitage said or Fleisher
or anyone else from the administration said or did in this
instance, amounted to anything approaching real political hardball.
In the scheme of things, especially by the standards of modern
politics in D.C. as played by the likes of Bill and Hillary
Clinton, the effort to correct Joe Wilson’s lies was an exceedingly
mild form of “push-back.” Frankly, the Wilsons deserved tougher
treatment from the administration than they received.
Item Two: Speaking of the Bush administration,
its worst problems are not of venality or ideology but of
competence. It has not done a good job defending its judicial
nominees. It did an infamously bad job of responding to Hurricane
Katrina. It botched the reconstruction of Iraq (although it did not
botch it permanently, because its “surge” has a real chance to
work). It botched the issue of armor for the troops, and it botched
the medical care for troops and veterans when they returned
stateside. It badly mishandled the dismissal of a bunch of U.S.
attorneys. (Disclaimer: In Arkansas, I personally know that both
the replaced Bud Cummins and new appointee Tim Griffin are good
men; indeed, Griffin is eminently qualified and a terrific public
servant who does not deserve to have his credentials questioned
just because the Justice Department was ham-handed in its
methodology and communications.) The Bushies also were utterly
complicit in a miserable set of Republican campaign tactics last
year, and especially wrongheaded to send the president to campaign
with senators such as Jim Talent, George Allen and Conrad Burns in
the final days of the campaign.
The flip side of this is that the administration actually has
performed fairly well in 2007. With Karl Zinsmeister heading
domestic policy, Tony Snow in the press office, and Rob Portman
heading OMB (among others), the White House has a team in place
that well serves it and the American people. Several of its policy
initiatives this year are solid and thoughtful, and might be
politically salable under better circumstances.
Oh — and this president’s foreign policy aims are profoundly
moral, and his philosophical instincts (and often his considered
judgments) are sound.
Item Three: Yes, the presidential race has
heated up much too early. Yes, so far the Republican field has no
candidate that is ideal for conservatives. But no, this isn’t a
terrible field for conservatives either. Two of the three
front-runners, Giuliani and Romney, have much to recommend them
despite the obvious flaws that conservatives see in them.
Lesser-known candidates such as James Gilmore and Duncan Hunter are
good men and good public servants. And even John McCain has many
fine virtues, although classiness and an even temper and a good
understanding of domestic issues are definitely not among them.
Which is why George Will is correct in his conclusion that conservatives could have done worse
than the candidates available to us now.
If we want to do still better, though, then it’s time to get off
our rear ends and draft one. Chris Cox, anyone?
Item Four: Switching to sports: Yes, Syracuse
and Drexel got cheated by the NCAA basketball tournament committee.
Never mind, though: The tourney that starts tomorrow might be one
for the ages. March Madness is awesome.
Item Five: Here’s a suggestion to the worthy
gentlemen who run The Masters golf tournament: Issue a special
invitation to last year’s Ryder Cup Captain Tom Lehman. By any fair
analysis, he earned his way in.
Here’s why: By its own rules, the Masters invites the top 40
finishers on the previous year’s PGA Tour money list. Tom Lehman
was poised to be in that number. He was fully qualified and
scheduled to play in one of the World Golf Championships in Europe
last fall, and already was in Europe anyway, but he skipped the
tournament in order to return stateside to attend the funeral of
the legendary Byron Nelson. Nelson’s prowess as a golfer not only
knew few equals this side of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger
Woods, but his well-earned reputation as a gentleman was very much
in the tradition of Jones himself, the founder of The Masters.
Indeed, Nelson was a beloved figure at Augusta National, serving
for years as one of the three honorary starters for each
competition.
Lehman, as the Ryder Cup captain, did the right thing to honor
Nelson by skipping the big-money tournament to attend Nelson’s
funeral. But the decision was costly. All 60 players in that
tourney in Europe earned paychecks. If Lehman had finished just
tied for 56th out of 60 — a feat he certainly would have
accomplished: He was playing fairly well at the time — he would
have finished not 42nd on the Tour money list, but 40th. In short,
it was only because he honored Nelson that he missed qualifying for
The Masters. As the most recent Ryder Cup captain, as a universally
acclaimed gentleman himself, and as a golfer still among the
world’s elite, Tom Lehman well deserves a place in the exclusive
field at Augusta.
There — how’s that for a wide range of topics?
