Fall Guy

Bush Names War Czar

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Tuesday chose Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the Pentagon's director of operations and a former leader of U.S. military forces in the Middle East, to oversee the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan as a war czar.
"General Lute is a tremendously accomplished military leader who understands war and government and knows how to get things done," Bush said, capping a difficult search for new leadership in the wars that have defined his presidency.
It was a difficult job to fill, given the unpopularity of the war, now in its fifth year, and uncertainty about the clout the war coordinator would have. The search was complicated by demands from Congress to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq and scant public support for the war. The White House tried for weeks to fill the position and approached numerous candidates before settling on Lute
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Greg Saunders:
Justify the Headcount
That phrase should be familiar to our CEO President and should be repeated every time the subject of a "war czar" comes up. Is the job of overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan something you’re too busy to do, Mr. President? Do we need to reorganize your priorities so you aren’t distracted by less important things? Perhaps we should hire a "photo-ops with boy scout troops" czar to take some of the Presidential busy-work off your plate. That way you don’t have to waste our time and money trying to hire a middle-man that will only serve as a bottleneck between our troops and their Commander-in-Chief. If you really need someone else to take over some of the responsibilities of you and the Secretary of Defense, then give us a good explanation of why you’re unable to adequately do your job and why adding another layer of bureaucracy will make things better
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I think Bush is just setting this guy up to be the new fall guy. He can then shift the responsibility for the failure of the war and the "new" surge onto him! Bush has always found someone else to take heat for his incompetence.
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"If I had to sum it up in a few minutes I would say he's a control freak -- and the control is over your life."-- Former New York Mayor Ed Koch (D), quoted by the New York Post, on Rudy Giuliani. Koch said he would "travel the country" campaigning against Giuliani if he wins the Republican presidential nomination.
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I'm for this!!
Movement to Disempower Electoral College Picks Up Steam
Chris Kromm has an encouraging update on the effort to render the Electoral College irrelevant at Facing South. As Kromm reports on recent action by the North Carolina state senate:
This week, North Carolina became the latest state chamber to endorse a direct popular vote, as the Charlotte Observer reports:
"North Carolina would enter a compact that could eliminate the power of the Electoral College system to choose a president, according to a bill that passed the Senate Monday night. If agreed to by states representing a majority of the nation's 538 electoral votes, the measure would require North Carolina to give its electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote nationwide."
Nationwide, 41 bills have been introduced. In Maryland, it's been signed by the governor, and both of Hawaii's legislative chambers have passed the hill. North Carolina is now one of five states where it's passed at least one house, the others being Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, and most recently California...And if states that represent a majority of the current 538 Electoral College votes form a compact to do away with the system, they can move the country to direct popular vote for President and Vice President.
North Carolina being a moderate to moderately-conservative state, the action of its state senate bodes well for the popular vote campaign nation-wide. Apparently, this movement has some legs.