Wednesday, May 05, 2004
The Neo-Neocons
Is there a break in the ranks? It appears that the one-time love affair between the Bush administration and the neoconservatives is on the rocks. Not only are the neocons losing ground in the policy shaping hierarchy within the White House and the Pentagon, as evidenced by the recent outreach to the international community and the U.N., but it appears that the neocons are starting to bite back. Although always a bit more moderate than his fellow neocons, Robert Kagan has recently taken a swipe at the Commander in Chief himself in this piece. The tone seems to signify that the honeymoon might be over as illustrated by this excerpt referring to Bush:
"His commitment to stay the course in Iraq seems utterly genuine. Yet he continues to tolerate policymakers, military advisers and a dysfunctional policymaking apparatus that are making the achievement of his goals less and less likely. He does not seem to demand better answers, or any answers, from those who serve him. It's not even clear that he understands how bad the situation in Iraq is or how close he is to losing public support for the war, a support that once lost may be impossible to regain. Bush politicos may take comfort from polls that show the public still trusts Bush more than Kerry when it comes to conducting the war. That won't be worth much, however, if the public turns against the war itself. The tragedy may be that Bush will not understand until it is too late. In which case we will lose in Iraq, and the dire consequences that he has rightly warned of will be upon us."
"His commitment to stay the course in Iraq seems utterly genuine. Yet he continues to tolerate policymakers, military advisers and a dysfunctional policymaking apparatus that are making the achievement of his goals less and less likely. He does not seem to demand better answers, or any answers, from those who serve him. It's not even clear that he understands how bad the situation in Iraq is or how close he is to losing public support for the war, a support that once lost may be impossible to regain. Bush politicos may take comfort from polls that show the public still trusts Bush more than Kerry when it comes to conducting the war. That won't be worth much, however, if the public turns against the war itself. The tragedy may be that Bush will not understand until it is too late. In which case we will lose in Iraq, and the dire consequences that he has rightly warned of will be upon us."
