Where Have The Adults Gone?

I look at the catastrophe in Iraq, the fiscal debacle here at home, the extent to which loyalty trumps competence at the highest levels of government, the absence of a coherent vision of the future for the U.S. and the world, and I wonder, with a sense of deep sadness, where the adults have gone.

Bob Herbert

Bob Herbert has a no holds barred critique of the Bush Administration and specifically Condoleezza Rice in the New York Times today.

Colin Powell, who urged the president to think more deeply about the consequences of invading Iraq, is being shoved toward the exit. And Condoleezza Rice, who blithely told America, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," is being ushered in to take his place.

Competence has never been highly regarded by the fantasists of the George W. Bush administration. In the Bush circle, no less than in your average youth gang, loyalty is everything. The big difference, of course, is that the administration is far more dangerous than any gang. History will show that the Bush crowd of incompetents brought tremendous amounts of suffering to enormous numbers of people. The amount of blood being shed is sickening, and there is no end to the grief in sight.

"The Bush crowd of incompetents", strong words from Mr Herbert but history will show they are accurate. And perhaps the biggest disappointment is Dr. Rice. Bob Herbert mentions here credentials, which look pretty good, but in reality her area of expertise was on the subject of a war that was long over. I think we see two other characteristics in Dr Rice that Bob doesn't mention, she is too insecure to stand up to the likes of Cheney and Rumsfeld and she has a need to succeed, to reach the pinnacle of power.
Her biggest failure as the National Security Advisor was simply not doing her job.

Ms. Rice's domain was the filter through which an awful lot of mangled and misshapen intelligence made its way to the president and the American people. She either believed the nonsense she was spouting about mushroom clouds, or she deliberately misled her president and the nation on matters that would eventually lead to the deaths of thousands.

Secretary Powell's close friend and deputy at the State Department, Richard Armitage, viewed Ms. Rice's operation with contempt. In his book "Plan of Attack," Bob Woodward said Mr. Armitage "believed that the foreign-policy-making system that was supposed to be coordinated by Rice was essentially dysfunctional."

When asked about the infighting going on between the State and Defense departments she responded that "it was not her job to referee", I'm sorry Ms Rice but that is exactly what your job was supposed to be. She was too intimidated by Dick Cheney to take the opinions of Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft into consideration. And now the Cheney "Echo Chamber" is complete with Dr Rice as the Secretary Of State.