Bush averts tragedy

There's no doubt in my mind that Bush was in a tough position on this ports deal. His own party was using politics against him in order to not get his veto, by attaching provisions to stop the ports deal to legislation providing funding for katrina cleanup and troops in Iraq. Bush had threatened a veto on any legislation to try to stop the Dubai port sale. Would he have actually vetoed? We may never know, but probably would have found out in the next few weeks had Dubai not caved and decided to give up its stake.

I truly thought this whole situation would have blown over by now. I thought people would realize that the company would not control port security. I thought Congress would actually do a reasonable investigation and conclude with a majority that the ports deal could be allowed. Little did I know just how close the upcoming elections are. Democrats, not surprisingly, but also Republicans (62-2 bipartisan vote in the House Appropriations Committee to block the deal) in large numbers broke away from the President on this issue. The media is playing this all out to be a huge rift in the Republican party. They are saying that Bush is pretty much done for because the Republicans are all going to break away from him the rest of his term. I don't think this is true though. We may see more of it until the midterm elections, but I really think that's the main reason. The media is using this opportunity to once again bash the President in showing that even his own party won't stand with him anymore.

One of my first thoughts when I heard that Dubai was pulling out the deal, is did Bush have anything to do with convincing them. You're already hearing this speculation in the media, so I'm sure this isn't the last we'll hear about it. I would say he probably did, but the question is, does it really matter? Bill Clinton was proven to have advised top officials from Dubai on how to best handle this situation in suggesting a 45 day investigation (as I wrote about here).

All in all, Bush had a pretty good day yesterday. He signed the renewed Patriot Act into law, and was averted from possibly the biggest crisis in his recent Presidency.


Tags: Bush, Dubai, Port, UAE,