Midas touch
I think Tom Ricks and Peter Baker slightly overstate the degree to which Petraeus owns the war here:
As Petraeus returns to Baghdad to continue carrying out President Bush's strategy, his image has changed as well. Like it or not, he has become a political player, and more than ever before, the U.S. venture in Iraq has become his own.
Like Harold, I think in the end both the soldiers and the American people will come to realize that this war belongs to George Bush. Not David Petraeus. What seems certain is that George Bush's presidency will end with Petraeus' reputation badly withered if not in tatters. Which leads me to announce the latest in my consistently unsuccessful series of open threads! Has any respected public servant ever stepped into the swirling vortex of reputation-eating acid that surrounds the Bush administration and escaped largely unscathed?
Bob Gates seems pretty Teflon thus far. Anybody else?
Comments
The first problem is trying to think of "respected public servants," that is, people who were respected for their public service BEFORE they went to work for Bushco. Is it Colin Powell, all by himself?
Just trying to help out with the open thread. Maybe get a trend going.
It seems to me that--loathsome as most of them were to liberals--almost everybody in Bush's cabinet (including Dick Cheney) had sterling reputations as competent (if conservative) public servants.
Actually Brian, several public servants have have had their reputations enhanced by their work in the Bush Administration. Among them:
1) John Dilulio - resigned from Bush's "faith-based initiative" and called the Administration "Mayberry Machiavellis";
2) Lawrence Lindsey - was fired from his position as Director of the National Economic Council after estimating the Iraq War would cost between 100-200 billion dollard;
3) Richard Clarke - resigned in 2003 from the National Security Council.
Notice a pattern? They all opposed or contradicted Administration policies.
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