Saturday, February 26, 2005

Gridlock Will Be Progress

Bush Urges Haste on Social Security Reform
-Associated Press

I read a biography of Bush that describes how, one day, he decided to quit smoking. He did so, digging in with resolution, and never smoked cigarettes again.

It was an impulsive decision to stop smoking.

This gut-instinct, impulsive nature to Bush's decision making process might be good for something like that -- giving up nicotine or fatty foods or whatever -- but it is a severe flaw in the way a leader makes a decision.

So, how old is Social Security? Seventy-ish? And because Bush has a bee in his bonnett to change it, it must change now?

Without debate?

Without weighing and measuring options?

That's the gift of George W. Bush. He presents everything as if it is urgent and must be rammed through because waiting and contemplating endangers the situation, puts us in the crosshairs of further problems.

This is the evidence that the man not only cannot abide contemplation, he deeply resents the troublesome task of thinking things through.

His debacle in Iraq, a completely senseless and fraudelent and fatal policy, should convince us all that This Boy Has Cried Wolf, and whatever he says about anything now is to be doubted. He is part of a machinery that does not debate issues, but smears debating opponents with savage personal insults that appeal to the uninformed citizen's proclivities to hate.

So if George W. Bush says radical change in Social Security is urgently needed, smart citizens should look at his record of "warning us of danger" and immediately be doubtful that he is leading us in the right direction. To sum it up: If Bush says "night", we owe it to ourselves to think "day" because that is his track record. When Bush says "hurry up" we are obliged to say, "whoa, slow down" because there is something in the Bush administration's need to rush things through that indicates they are afraid of putting their proposals under a microscope.

President Bush is in a hurry to radically change Social Security. There's a reason for this. The more time anyone spends looking at his proposed changes, the more risky they seem. The loyal opposition, the Democrats, should have one thing in mind for the next four years. Be contrary to Bush. Because if the first four destructive years of the Bush administration are any indication of what that crew can do, then gridlock will be progress.