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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2004-02-08

The President--Live

I saw almost all of the Russert interview in two stages today. Two conclusions leapt to mind: one, this President has got to join the battle; and two, he should avoid interviews.

As to the first part, I think the President has a compelling argument to make. Simply put, given the information that came across his desk, he could not afford to risk it all on the vague hope that Saddam was telling the truth or unwilling to attack with what he had. The President as much as said this, and it may have been the best moment of the interview for him. I think WMD's have become a straw man argument, comfortable for lefties to lean on when the truth of their position--that they would rather still have Saddam in charge--is laid bare. Unfortunately, nobody is making this argument loudly enough. And the President said at one point that John Kerry is not the nominee yet; I think it would be foolish to wait until he actually was the nominee to start firing back.

To the second point, I think this President has an unusually clear ability to see the world for what it is, and to make sound judgements about how to act in this world. Unfortunately, the gift of articulating this ability is not his. Every once in a while it strikes me that while his folksy language may be perect for moments like visiting Ground Zero, there are times where I wish he had half of Tony Blair's gift for rhetoric.

It will be interesting to see which quotes, if any, survive the news cycle. I would imagine that this interview will fade into the footnotes of the 2004 election. In that, it may be an unfortunate wasted opportunity.
Posted by: Michael / 2/08/2004 11:45:00 PM

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