A Paul on the Presidency

The bombshell:

CRAWFORD, Tex., Jan. 10 -- Former Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill charged in remarks released Saturday that President Bush began planning to oust Saddam Hussein within days of taking office and before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The response:

A senior administration official said O'Neill's "suggestion that the administration was planning an invasion of Iraq days after taking office is laughable. Nobody listened to him when he was in office. Why should anybody now?"

Naturally, my fellow pro-freedom bloggers have been all over this. Equally naturally, this looks like it'll blow over before the interview is even broadcast. Still, since we all know full well that every brain in the administration not named "Powell" wanted to invade Iraq since before the 2000 election, IMO the truly interesting element of this story is the response. Sure, the politics of personal destruction are used on anything that vaguely resembles a Democrat, but widening the circle to include a Republican who served in the Bush administration is a fascinating development.

Is this a coldly calculated attack, unconcerned about the obvious contradiction due to Americans' short attention span? Is it the legendary rage of the Bush political team (aka Karl "like he's never been f---ed before" Rove)? Is there actual desperation involved, as the opposition becomes more motivated and organized while Bush's failings become more public? Is it some combination of the above? After all, this is a man who served under Bush for some time -- if no one listened to him while he was Treasury Secretary, why in hell was he appointed to that office? And how did he keep his job for so long?

While the Bush administration is supposed to be in the driver's seat in 2004, surely men like Rove realize that once the general election campaign season begins, all of the Regime's policy failings, foreign and domestic, will be aired for public consumption. They've practically conceded this point, and are already trying to frame the election in terms of attitude over accomplishment. So every time a revelation like Mr. O'Neill's receives public attention, it's a direct threat to that second term, as well as the power and "legitimacy" the Bush team so desperately want.

So it will be interesting to see whether O'Neill's visibility is vanished, brutalized, or both (kept out of the general public's eye, while savaged by the wingnut policy hacks). While I seriously doubt that this revelation will do any real damage to the administration, their reaction will prove instructive. Coming next: [fill in the candidate] is too liberal, too Clintonian, hates America (yes, even Clark and Lieberman), and looks French.

(/) Roland X
With thanks to Hesiod