My belief that the head of the rotting fish (or the rotting head of the fish) that is the Bush administration needs to be replaced as quickly as possible puzzles Dan Drezner:
danieldrezner.com :: Daniel W. Drezner :: My very own cabinet reshuffle: Brad DeLong... has been urging "grown-up Republicans" for the past year to force Bush and Cheney's resignations.... I'm a bit puzzled by DeLong's embrace of Colin Powell. Maybe Powell is a moderate Republican, but that doesn't seem to have made him a particularly good Secretary of State....
First of all this is--as Dan points out--an exercise in political fantasy, in imagination. However, one of the interesting things about politics is that it is like Tinkerbell: if enough people imagine and believe strongly enough, the fantastic can become true. The fall of the Berlin Wall is our best and most impressive semi-recent example.
Second, Powell is my choice by default: who else would have (a) as good a chance as George W. Bush of winning the November election for the Republican Party and (b) the plus of not being grossly incompetent as a president?
Dan prefers to think not about the immediate replacement of the head of the rotting fish, but of its midsection:
However, Brad's post did get me to thinking about Bush's foreign policy team and my own qualms with their performance. Tenet and Negroponte have recently left their positions. Rumsfeld should resign. Powell is lackluster. Fairly or unfairly, Ashcroft as Attorney General has been an automatic campaign contribution machine for Democrats. Since Bush and Cheney themselves aren't going anywhere, I've got an idea -- how about a cabinet reshuffle now instead of November!!Of course, this presents an exciting but challenging task -- picking a new foreign affairs cabinet that meets the following criteria:
1) They have solid Republican bona-fides;
2) They're effective administrators (for cabinet officials);
3) They have gravitas;
4) They can play nicely with each other;
5) Those needing Senate confirmation could get it with a minimum of fussWith those criteria in mind -- and do bear in mind that this is a blog post, so it's not like I've thought every detail of this out -- what's my new cabinet look like? Secretary of Defense -- John McCain.... Attorney General -- John Danforth.... Director of Central Intelligence -- Brent Scowcroft.... Secretary of State -- Kenneth Dam.... National Security Advisor -- Bob Blackwill.... Treasury Secretary -- Robert Zoellick.... Secretary of Homeland Security -- Rudolph Guliani.... United Nations Ambassador -- Robert Kagan...
Dan's proposals seem to me to depend on the truth of the proposition that George W. Bush is like Sultan Selim the Sot--that all he needs is to be guided by good viziers rather than the bad viziers of the past three and a half years, and all will be well. This is certainly the story that people were trying to sell me in the fall and winter of 2000: that George W. Bush will be a good Head of State, and he's surrounded by a good, solid team that will run the government. However, we have not had the Second Coming of the Ford Administration but policy disasters in every possible realm--ask Christina Todd Whitman about environmental policy, ask John Di Iulio about social policy, ask Orrin Hatch about science policy, ask Paul O'Neill about economic policy, ask Dan Drezner about foreign policy.
So simply replacing the midsection of the rotting fish may not do much good.
Nevertheless, it does see worth trying...
Posted by DeLong at June 18, 2004 10:57 AM | TrackBack | | Other weblogs commenting on this postIn all fairness I must say, "political fantasy" is one thing economists 'across the board' are reasonably good at...
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"...First of all this is--as Dan points out--an exercise in political fantasy, in imagination. However, one of the interesting things about politics is that it is like Tinkerbell: if enough people imagine and believe strongly enough, the fantastic can become true..."
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"Invisible hands", Toto?
Anyone?
Posted by: Mike on June 18, 2004 11:32 AMThrow the whole fish out, the decomposition is so advanced, I can't tell the head from it's tail anymore.
Posted by: ch2 on June 18, 2004 11:39 AMDreznur and DeeLong are jelus becuse the presidant loves freedum and is free and is a free freedum fighter who is free.
That and he dusn't like the gays.
Posted by: Brad Reed on June 18, 2004 11:45 AMwho else would have (a) as good a chance as George W. Bush of winning the November election for the Republican Party and (b) the plus of not being grossly incompetent as a president?
McCain.
Disclaimer: I'd still wouldn't vote for him.
Posted by: John Lyon on June 18, 2004 11:55 AMCase in point-
Replacing O'Neill, Lindsay, Hubbard and Daniels with
Snow, Friedman, Mankiw and Bolton has not been a great improvement.
Someone is replacing babelfish?
Posted by: anon on June 18, 2004 12:07 PMI've long said the difference between Reagan and Bush II is that Reagan knew he was a figurehead, whereas Bush thinks he's actually President. And, alas, he believes it and it comes true.
Posted by: Martin Bento on June 18, 2004 12:27 PMPrediction: Prior to Bush housecleaning his cabinet, Cheney steps down for health or personal reasons and Bush announces McCain as his new running mate.
Posted by: unseelie on June 18, 2004 01:24 PMPowell no longer has any cred as anything other than a person that does what he's told. Whatever political ambitions he may have had, they've been left bleeding to death in ditch thanks to his associations with this administration.
The best thing he could do now would be to step down, come clean and then retire quietly. Of course, the Bush administration would ruin his son in retribution...
Posted by: unseelie on June 18, 2004 01:27 PMWhat Dan is proposing is akin to putting lipstick and a dress on a pig.
Posted by: ch2 on June 18, 2004 01:35 PMI think bakho's point is well taken: getting rid of the current clique does nothing to ensure that the group replacing them would be any better. I still say bring back Hank Kissinger at state, but that's just my sick mind... ;-)
Posted by: Brad Reed on June 18, 2004 02:22 PMThe problem with this "political fantasy" is that it is too fantastic. Bush has backed himself into a tight corner with his "steady leadership in times of change" campaign strategy. He has blown $100+ million trying to prove that he is too stubborn to correct his mistakes - throwing his crew overboard now would be too transparently hypocritical, even for Bush-Cheney.
I know, sunk costs and all that, but "flip flops" create new political costs. I can just imagine the Moveon ad transposing Bush's speeches with the newspaper headlines reporting his actions. Steady Leadership???
Posted by: David Meyer on June 18, 2004 02:30 PM"What Dan is proposing is akin to putting lipstick and a dress on a pig."
Looked like a pretty fun exercise, though. I liked the comment that he left out Scott Rolen.
And BTW, I hate the fish metaphor. Fishies are cute and swimmiful and don't need replacing!
Posted by: fling93 loves fishies on June 18, 2004 03:22 PMFYI, it's Christine Todd Whitman.
Bernard Guerrero
Ex-Jersey Boy
Current Republican
Fairly or unfairly, Ashcroft as Attorney General has been an automatic campaign contribution machine for Democrats.
Fairly.
Posted by: Matt Stoller on June 18, 2004 03:30 PM"Secretary of Homeland Security -- Rudolph Guliani"
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO, G_d D_mn it NO
I lived with this man was my city's mayor for 8 years. He HATES the first amendment. No Friggin' way! I'll blow this popsicle stand if that happens.
Jack.
Posted by: Jack on June 18, 2004 04:14 PM"McCain as his new running mate."
There are few politicians as apt at smelling rotten fish as John McCain, so that would be a no-starter. We might see him back on the trail in '08 though.
I've been on this beat since May 2002.
Agreed, Powell is a plausible interim POTUS, but his stock -- confirmability as replacement VP -- has declined.
John "Mr Clean" Danforth has been jumped into the plausibly deniable inner warm-up circle, as UN Ambassador (and given extra vis at Reagan services) ... but he appears lacking in vitality.
Hagel is possible, Ridge unimpressive, Giuliani too far from the hive ... who else ya got?
Posted by: RonK, Seattle on June 18, 2004 10:50 PMAll the grownups with enough experience and gravitas to make the list are way too smart to climb aboard that ship of fools heading toward the shoals of November.
Whether these people want to enable a second term for Bush-the-Lesser's is an open question as well. It's not clear Bush would benefit by by sharing the spotlight with his betters anyway. Reagan and Arnie dwarf him.
Posted by: LeftCoast on June 18, 2004 11:23 PM"the proposition that George W. Bush is like Sultan Selim the Sot--that all he needs is to be guided by good viziers rather than the bad viziers of the past three and a half years, and all will be well."
Surely Tsar Nikolai would end the war and give us bread and land, if it weren't for Rasputin and the rest of that bad crowd around the Tsarina. (Isn't she French^h^h^h^h^h German?)
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