On Reconstruction
The President and his staff are re-thinking how they manage the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Condi Rice will oversee the "Iraq Stabilization Group," which will be an interdepartmental force to get shit done in-country. Read the article for the details, but it appears that it's an effort to cut across the bureaucratic boundaries and work on managing, you know, the little details, like roads, schools, security, power, the Taliban, and all that. Hope this works.
From the article: "'The president knows his legacy, and maybe his re-election, depends on getting this right,' another administration official said. 'This is as close as anyone will come to acknowledging that it's not working.'"
Well, they don't have to acknowledge it, as long as they do something about it.
[moreover] Does anybody else think that Condoleeza Rice sits home at night, practicing her signature, "Vice President Condoleeza Rice"? I mean, I'm not saying that's her ambition, just that if there's one person in the Bush administration ideally situated to take over from Dick Cheney, it's her. And I think she'd be good at it. Besides, she's a hardcore Cleveland Browns fan, so she can't be all bad.
[moreover] Go Browns! Beating the Steelers for the FIRST time since coming back from the dead! In! Your! Face!, John Cole!!
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We also ought to keep in mind
We also ought to keep in mind that, of course it's not working. It hasn't had long enough yet, for Chrissakes. Even if the Bush administration had the most brilliant reconstruction plan in human history, the very platonic form of good judgment, compassion and generosity; written by Jesus Christ and vetted by the Democratic party; and led on the ground by a team of the greatest motivational speakers from around the world - at this moment in time, it wouldn't be working.
It takes time to recover from thirty years of oppression. And time to rebuild infrastructure neglected in favor of palaces. We have experience of doing this, both at home and abroad. If we stop assuming that all is lost, and look at what has been accomplished but above all have some effing patience, we might actually succeed.
Btw, this wasn't aimed at you particularly, Johno. Just a bit of pent up irritation.
Go Browns! OSU didn't play, but still ranked #3!
Buckethead, you're right. But
Buckethead, you're right. But the admin has shown stupendous inflexibility, for example, in relying on old & wrong numbers about how much oil Iraq could produce, even after those numbers were proven to be dreams.
Rejoinder to you, Buckethead: all is not lost. But it's sometimes good to lose your effing patience, and try something else when what you're doing is totally not working.
Driving to Cleveland takes twelve hours from where I live, near Boston. It's one thing for someone in the back seat to say "we're not there yet" when I'm driving west on I-90 between Albany and Syracuse (shut up! I know! We will be! Patience!), and another thing for that someone, when I'm heading south on I-95 outside Baltimore, to point out that I'm [em]never going to get there going that way[/em].
OSU sucks.
OSU sucks.
Of course, there can be
Of course, there can be reasons for being on I-95 - like a fimbulwinter style blizzard in Buffalo. When you get to, oh, say Richmond, and you've missed your last possible turn west for Ohio, then you freak.
Closet Michigan fan, aren't you? I bet you like the Yankees.
[flame on]
[flame on]
YOU GO TO HELL! YOU GO TO HELL AND DIE RIGHT NOW!
[flame off]
Like I said, Mountaineers and Panthers. And lady Huskies.
Yeah. I like the Yankees. I like the Yankees the way Sonny Corleone liked Carlo. Repeatedly. In the ribs.