The Ming Report

Déjà Vu

October 22, 2005 - As the President exhorts the United Nations to act in the wake of its report of Syrian responsibility for the assassination of Lebanon’s once and future Prime Minister and Wilma churns across the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Katrina and Rita it gives you a sense of Déjà Vu. In the Byzantine world the Bush Administration world events are seen as a launching point for a campaign to reverse the slide in the President’s JAR ratings. Damascus seems as tailor made a diversionary target as was Baghdad four years ago this month. The signs are all there. Lebanon has long suffered from Damascus’ interference with its neighbor. The UN indictment of the Syrian regime seems well grounded – indeed it seems air tight when compared to the Bush Administration’s case for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. As Secretary of State Powell did before her Secretary of State Rice is publicly rattling the US saber telling the world that the President has not ruled out the use of military force against Damascus. It all sounds depressingly familiar.

This weekend Wilma completes the trifecta of perfect storms taking aim on the US Gulf Coast. The evacuees from Katrina and Rita are just beginning to trickle home. Congress is listening as FEMA middle managers indict the cronies at the top as they tarried at lunch while New Orleans drowned. While the Administration is busying itself dancing to avoid pointing fingers in the wake of her predecessors Wilma is stirring her new pot of toil and trouble for the Bush Administration. She has the Bush Brothers in a box. With George in charge in Washington and Jeb in Tallahassee neither has a target to whom to shift the blame for FEMA failure.

Every day Americans are graphically reminded of the state of the economy. They watch the dials on the gas pump spin at a dizzy rate. The last time we had a gasoline price crisis we had a Republican Administration and a dragging on war. That President – Nixon was his name – acted and acted firmly to restrain oil company greed. The Windfall Profits Taz took the profit out of oil company greed,. The 55 MPH speed limit brought down demand and we weathered that economic storm. Those were bold steps from a conservative President famous for his glowering scowl. There are no bold economic moves coming from this resident of the White House – just a clueless grin and a nervous laugh.

The toll of American dead in our endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has passed 2,000. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are more lethal today than the were four years ago. Terror has taken its toll on the US psyche. Attacks are no longer necessary to disrupt an American city. New York and Baltimore have both proved to our enemies that all they need do is concoct a groundless rumor and pass it on. America will do the rest to itself and then blame the other guy for bad intelligence. It couldn’t be easier.

So here we are, four years after 911 rescued the President from the American peoples assessment of his performance. His approval rating is in the toilet again. The sabers are rattling in the Middle East. Can Regime Change be far behind – especially with a pivotal election just a year away? Déjà Vu, folks, Déjà Vu!