Writers Posit That Foreign Policy Could Be a Bush Legacy

The Truman comparison (which the White House obviously likes) is dismissed by Amy Zegart, an associate professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. Writing in the National Interest this month, Zegart says that Truman's greatest Cold War policies -- his economic recovery plan for Europe, for example -- were recognized as triumphs from the start, even as Truman himself was unpopular. In contrast, she believes that harsh judgments of Bush will endure over time.

But Zegart predicts that Bush's second-term "Freedom Agenda," the notion that a mission of the United States is to help spread democracy abroad, will have a long shelf life. She notes that both Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) have embraced democratization in their foreign policy planks. Obama, for instance, has written that the security and well-being of every American depends on the security and well-being of those beyond our borders -- a point similar to one Bush made in his second inaugural address.

"George W. Bush will not be judged kindly by history," Zegart concludes. "But make no mistake: his freedom agenda will endure in the next administration and beyond."

Naming Names

In our last column, we took note of Bush's recent trip to Gettysburg with some unnamed friends. It turns out that an interesting foursome accompanied Bush on his tour of the battlefield and its new visitor center: onetime senior adviser Karl Rove, former White House counselor Karen Hughes, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales.

You might call it the original Texas Bush mafia.

Drilling for Priorities

There now appears a good chance that Bush will achieve one of his final domestic priorities, some form of offshore oil drilling, in the next couple of weeks.

But with two weeks left before Congress heads out on recess, a number of Bush initiatives are still unapproved. Most notable are three free trade pacts (Panama, South Korea and Colombia) and the civil nuclear deal with India that has been a linchpin of the administration's hopes of forging even closer ties with the world's largest democracy.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been lobbying furiously for the India deal, which appears to hinge on whether the White House can persuade Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, to agree to waive a 30-day waiting period before Congress can vote on it.

The only way any of the free trade pacts could be approved is if Congress holds a lame-duck session after the election, something that Democratic leaders have been reluctant to do but that White House officials remain hopeful could happen.

The White House also has made clear that it does not intend to submit a new supplemental spending bill for the Iraq war, leaving it to the next president to decide how to proceed after current funding runs out, sometime around March. Some officials in the Pentagon, particularly in the Army, are said to be unhappy with this approach.

The Candidates' Briefings

At the CIA, as with most federal agencies, officials are beginning to prepare for the first new president in eight years. During a "town meeting" with agency employees last Wednesday, Director Michael V. Hayden discussed the upcoming transition, describing it as an opportunity for the agency to demonstrate its skill and agility to new "customers."

Hayden told employees that Obama had his first intelligence briefing last week (McCain will get one soon), and among the subjects covered was terrorism. After the Nov. 4 election, the process will become even more active, with the president-elect offered the daily briefing received by the president, Hayden told the group.