Who's Making the Call?

"Mrs. Bush: They are. Jenna is working with an international organization in Central and South America about education policy. And Barbara is working for a museum in the education department."

The Freedom Agenda and Iraq

Fareed Zakaria writes in Newsweek: "It's relatively easy these days to point out all the ways in which George W. Bush has been ill-informed, misguided and wrong about Iraq. And in case you run out of examples, the president provides fresh ones continually. But on one central issue, Bush has been right. He has argued from the start that a modern, liberal democratic Iraq would be an example, an inspiration and a spur for progress in the Middle East. The trouble is, the Iraq of today is having precisely the opposite effect. If Bush wants to save his freedom agenda, he needs to decouple it from Iraq. . . .

"Iraq after Saddam presented a unique opportunity to steer history on a new course. But instead the Bush administration drove it into a ditch. As a result, the effort to create an Iraqi model for the Middle East has failed. No matter what happens over the next year or two, the country has developed into more of a warning about the dangers of democracy than a symbol of its promise. When people around the world--and, most important, in the region--look at Iraq, they see chaos, religious extremism and violence."

People Who Mattered

As part of Time's year-end issue, James Carney writes about the "axis of denial":

"It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were regarded as a national-security dream team, three men perfectly suited to perilous times: the President, instinctive and decisive; the Vice President, a sage and tested Washington veteran; and the Defense Secretary, whose brio and charm were rare and reassuring. Or so it was thought.

"But in 2006, the dream team died, and its members instead became objects of scorn and emblems of failure. Their signature venture -- the Iraq war -- spiraled relentlessly downward into civil war. As it did, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld sealed their fate by diving deeper into denial about the realities on the battlefield."

Where Was Dad?

Curt Smith, a former speechwriter for Bush's father, writes in the New York Daily News: "Prewar, I had phoned ex-White House colleagues still in Washington. Once balanced, they seemed messianic: As Brent Scowcroft said of Vice President Cheney, I no longer knew them. Old friends assured me that we would be viewed as liberators, oil would pay the freight and regional democracy would thrive. They are lucky you can't be more than 100% wrong.

"Don Rumsfeld himself said, 'I don't do quagmires.' True. W has done a catastrophe. . . .

"Speakers at the 1988 Democratic National Convention mocked, 'Where was George?' My query concerns 2003-06: 'Where was Dad?' . . .

"George H.W. Bush was astute and nuanced. By contrast, W's gamble has eviscerated his presidency. Bush the Elder often twitted the word 'prudent.' At one time, prudence might have saved Bush the Lesser. It is unlikely to save him now.

"Some risks are so bad they become immune even to Texas-sized providence. How heedless, needless and, above all, sad."

Now It's Personal

Christopher Caldwell writes in the New York Times Magazine: "Why have few such people risen to the defense of George Bush?