Overloaded

Lately, I have found it difficult to blog, if only because the mind boggles at the myriad of things to comment on. A brief list:

Listening to discussions of President Bush's press conference on the left and on the right leads me to the conclusion that there must have been two of them: one in which he displayed steely resolve and exhibited strong qualities of leadership, and one where he stammered and stared dumbly into the klieg lights as he searched for bits of sound-bites that he could use to evade questions. I saw the press conference, and as I have discussed below, thought he sounded remarkably evasive and seemed oddly unpresidential, considering that the ability to communicate fluidly is a significant element of the modern presidency.

Over at the 9/11 commission, there is an accusation by Tom DeLay and others on the right that the commission is being too partisan in its questioning even as Attorney General John Ashcroft blamed the Clinton Administration for all faults relating to 9/11 and singled out commissioner Jamie Gorelick and her "wall" memo when she was Deputy AG as the primary reason why the FBI could not "connect the dots". Never mind the question of why Ashcroft, when he became AG didn't immediately tear down the "wall" if it was such a big impediment -- that would be a partisan question.

Meanwhile, in typical Bush Administration fashion, once Colin Powell's criticisms of the President were aired by Bob Woodward's book, the sliming campaign began -- this morning, the New York Times quoted a senior administration official as saying that Powell has a history of running away from failed policies:

Another official, who like others declined to be identified because of the political sensitivity of their criticism, accused Mr. Powell of having a habit of distancing himself from policies when they go wrong. "It's such a soap opera with him," this official said. [link]

Then there's Iraq: sadly, this has been the deadliest month since we invaded, with 100 dead in April so far (and there's still 11 days to go). Yet when asked who will receive the reigns on June 30, the President says "that's an interesting question" and announces that he's waiting for a recommendation from U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. The June 30 date for handing over sovereignty is looming, the job of transitioning is going to be huge, and the Bush administration has no idea who they'll be giving the keys to? If ever there were conclusive proof that they haven't properly planned this whole endeavor, this has to be it.

And the deference to Brahimi and the UN is itself interesting, considering first, that Brahimi is on record as saying that de-Baathification (purging the Iraqi government of Saddam's former Baath party officials) is a bad idea, and that Baath party loyalists ought to, in most cases, be eligible to serve in the new government. [link] I don't necessarily disagree with Brahimi, but I thought that one of the underlying themes of this war was to rid Iraq of the Baath party's deadly influence. Doesn't Brahimi's view seem just a little inconsistent with that vision?

And the UN, meanwhile, has been dissed up, down and across by the Bush Administration for months nigh unto years, yet there they were -- the President and Prime Minister Tony Blair -- practically on bended knee, saying that UN participation will be crucial to a successful transition. As the New York Times put it,

Mr. Bush, who before the war in Iraq had expressed great dissatisfaction with the United Nations, and Mr. Blair went out of their way today to say that the international organization now had a vital role to play. [link]

But don't look to the international community as a sure thing just yet -- yesterday, Spain announced that it would send replacement troops to Iraq, but did not expect them to stay long (in fact, the Spanish Prime Minister announced that Spain's 1,400 troops would be pulled out "as soon as possible"). This led Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, to praise the decision and predict that other European governments might soon follow suit:

Mr. Prodi said today that by withdrawing troops, Spain was "applying strong pressure to speed up a solution to these problems rapidly. It is a very clear position and one that we share." [link]

Like I said, with so much to talk about, it's hard to know even where to start.