Fox News bloviator, Fred Barnes, has an interesting view on rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. He says Bush needs to shake up his staff, and he makes all the recommendations. Most interestingly, he calls for Donald Rumsfeld to resign and for Dick Cheney to take his place as Secretary of Defense. Condoleezza Rice would then become Vice-President, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman would take over as Secretary of State.
If we limited ourselves to a game of “which of these things is not like the other” we would have to concede that Joe Lieberman is not guilty of crimes against humanity and has not personally authorized or helped to implement policies that violate the Geneva Conventions or the Constitution. But, as a political matter, getting rid of Rumsfeld and putting Joe in at State would do a lot for our image.
The problem is that Dick Cheney in the Pentagon would undermine the whole effort. Putting the war-profiteer-in-chief back in charge of the Pentagon is too much like asking Al Capone to guard Fort Knox. Plus, if Bush wants to change the perception that his administration is incompetent, he should shit-can his quail-hunting sidekick and bar him from holding or enjoying any office of honor, trust or profit in the United States.
Fred Barnes is grasping at straws. He even suggests that Karl Rove, Andy Card, Scott McClellan, and Steven Hadley be sacked. He’d like to see Rove take over the RNC. And Barnes recognizes that it might not be easy to find replacements.
Of course, there are risks and problems in trying to revitalize a flagging administration. The most worrisome risk is that Mr. Bush would look weak and desperate. Mr. Carter did in 1979 and became a laughingstock. That could happen to Mr. Bush. Also, it may be difficult to persuade outsiders to join what looks to them as a hopelessly lame-duck administration.
The president could lose a lot more than face. But the potential upside of a stunning facelift of his administration is great. It could make his presidency productive and enjoyable again rather than stymied and disheartened. Achieving the aura and feel of a new presidential term is not farfetched. Mr. Bush fooled everyone by becoming the president of big ideas and bold plans. He could fool them again.
He won’t fool me again. But, as Bush says:
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, ‘fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me’ — you can’t get fooled again. You’ve got to understand the nature of the regime we’re dealing with.”
Indeed.
