December 13, 2002
Presidential Invincibility Dissolves
Gene Lyons wrote an entertaining analysis of Bush's imagined invincibility after the last election, and its apparent disintegration in the last couple of weeks with the Lott embarassment, the victory of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, the current play-by-play in the war for a war in Iraq, and the shakeup of Bush's laughable "economic team".Lyons says, "evidence for a nationwide turn to the GOP is largely imaginary, and Bush's vaunted popularity about half an inch deep." Regarding Bush's economic non-engagement, Lyons says, "It was even reported that the jogger-in-chief was disturbed by Lindsey's lack of physical fitness. The real problem, of course, is that apart from its tax-cuts-for-millionaires panacea, the administration has no economic policy."
Regarding Iraq's presentation of its documents about its weapons programs, Lyons says, "Now that Saddam Hussein has played his hand, the White House faces the disconcerting possibility that the cunning Iraqi tyrant may yet cheat them out of their war."