Bush vs. Obama

Asked about the plight of the average American, here was his laughably irrelevant response:

Q. "What's your advice to the average American who is hurting now -- facing the prospect of $4 a gallon gasoline. Beyond your concern that you stated here and your expectations for these stimulus checks, what kind of hope can you offer to people who are in dire straits?"

Bush: "Permanent -- keep the tax cuts permanent, for starters. There's a lot economic uncertainty. You just said that. You just said the price of gasoline may be up to $4 a gallon, or some expert told you that. And that creates a lot of uncertainty. If you're out there wondering whether or not -- you know, what your life is going to be like and you're looking at $4 a gallon, that's uncertain.

"And when you couple that with the idea that their taxes may be going up in a couple years, that's double uncertainty."

Bush and Big Oil

As Steven Mufson writes in today's Washington Post: "The House of Representatives brushed aside threats of a White House veto yesterday and voted 236 to 182 in favor of an $18 billion tax package that would rescind a tax break for the five biggest oil companies and use the revenue to boost incentives for wind and solar energy and energy efficiency."

AP radio's Mark Smith asked Bush this morning: "Back when oil was $55 a barrel you said those tax breaks were not needed, people had plenty of incentive to drill for oil. Now the price of oil is $100 a barrel and you're planning to threaten a plan that would shift those tax breaks to renewables. Why, sir?"

Bush responded: "This generally is a tax increase. And it doesn't make any sense to do it right now. We need to be exploring for more oil and gas. And taking money out of the coffers of the oil companies will make it harder for them to reinvest. I know -- they say, 'Well, look at all of the profits'. Well, we're raising the price of gasoline in a time when the price of gasoline is high." Huh?

The Bush Library

Bush seemed taken aback at this excellent question posed by Ken Herman of Cox News Service: "Now that you've found a location for your presidential library, you've got to find the money to build it. Reports indicate that you may be trying to collect as much $200 million. Is that figure accurate? Do you believe it's important for the American people to know who's giving that kind of money to their president? Will you disclose the contributions as they come in? And will you place any restriction on who gives money and how much they can give?"

Bush's responded: "Whew, man." He proceeded to not answer any of Herman's questions, other than to say he would not reject foreign money.

On the Hill

Paul Kane writes in The Washington Post: "The Senate yesterday continued a heated but largely theatrical debate on a bill to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq within 120 days and began considering another that would require the Bush administration to develop a new strategy against terrorism.

"Republicans relished the opportunity to joust over war policy, confident in their political standing because of security gains in Iraq since President Bush's troop buildup took hold there last year. But Democrats said the debate offers them a new chance to highlight Republican support for a still unpopular war, setting the stage for them to run a general-election campaign this fall largely against Bush's policies in Iraq. . . .

"Democrats used the debate to test their emerging line of political attack on Bush's war policy, contending that the mounting cost of the conflict in Iraq is stealing resources from domestic priorities that could help prop up the sagging economy."

Cost Watch

Kevin G. Hall writes for McClatchy Newspapers: "When U.S. troops invaded Iraq in March 2003, the Bush administration predicted that the war would be self-financing and that rebuilding the nation would cost less than $2 billion.

"Coming up on the fifth anniversary of the invasion, a Nobel laureate now estimates that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing America more than $3 trillion.

"That estimate from Noble Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz also serves as the title of his new book, 'The Three Trillion Dollar War,' which hits store shelves Friday.

"The book, co-authored with Harvard University professor Linda Bilmes, builds on previous research that was published in January 2006. The two argued then and now that the cost to America of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is wildly underestimated. . . .

"The White House doesn't care for the estimates by Stiglitz, a former chief economist of the World Bank who's now a professor at Columbia University.

"'People like Joe Stiglitz lack the courage to consider the cost of doing nothing and the cost of failure. One can't even begin to put a price tag on the cost to this nation of the attacks of 9-11,' said White House spokesman Tony Fratto, conceding that the costs of the war on terrorism are high while questioning the premise of Stiglitz's research.

"'It is also an investment in the future safety and security of Americans and our vital national interests. $3 trillion? What price does Joe Stiglitz put on attacks on the homeland that have already been prevented? Or doesn't his slide rule work that way?'"

Fear Watch

David Ignatius writes in his Washington Post opinion column: 'Politicians who talk about the terrorism threat -- and it's already clear that this will be a polarizing issue in the 2008 campaign -- should be required to read a new book by a former CIA officer named Marc Sageman. It stands what you think you know about terrorism on its head and helps you see the topic in a different light. . . .

"The heart of Sageman's message is that we have been scaring ourselves into exaggerating the terrorism threat -- and then by our unwise actions in Iraq making the problem worse. He attacks head-on the central thesis of the Bush administration, echoed increasingly by Republican presidential candidate John McCain, that, as McCain's Web site puts it, the United States is facing 'a dangerous, relentless enemy in the War against Islamic Extremists' spawned by al-Qaeda. . . .

"Sageman's harshest judgment is that the United States is making the terrorism problem worse by its actions in Iraq. 'Since 2003, the war in Iraq has without question fueled the process of radicalization worldwide, including the U.S. The data are crystal clear,' he writes. We have taken a fire that would otherwise burn itself out and poured gasoline on it. . . .

"Sageman's policy advice is to 'take the glory and thrill out of terrorism.' Jettison the rhetoric about Muslim extremism -- these leaderless jihadists are barely Muslims. Stop holding news conferences to announce the latest triumphs in the 'global war on terror,' which only glamorize the struggle. And reduce the U.S. military footprint in Iraq, which fuels the Muslim world's sense of moral outrage."

Afghanistan Watch

Pamela Hess writes for the Associated Press: "More than six years after the U.S. invaded to establish a stable central regime in Afghanistan, the Kabul government under President Hamid Karzai controls just 30 percent of the country, the top U.S. intelligence official said Wednesday.

"National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the resurgent Taliban controls 10 percent to 11 percent of the country and Karzai's government controls 30 percent to 31 percent. The majority of Afghanistan's population and territory remains under local tribal control, he said."

Waterboarding Watch

Hess also reports that at that same congressional hearing, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, the Defense Intelligence Agency director, "said he considers the harsh interrogation technique known as waterboarding to be inhumane. That would put it outside the bounds of U.S. law, which since late 2005 has prohibited cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees.

"The Bush administration has refused to rule on whether waterboarding is torture. Waterboarding involves strapping a person down and pouring water over his or her cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It has been traced back hundreds of years to the Spanish Inquisition, and is condemned by nations around the world."

TPM Muckraker has the video.

AIDS Watch

House leaders from both parties and the White House yesterday reached agreement on a bill that will continue the growth of the Bush administration's global AIDS program.

David Brown writes in The Washington Post: "In a compromise reached late Tuesday night, the bill loosens the requirement for abstinence messages in AIDS-prevention strategies, a source of criticism of the program since it was unveiled by President Bush in 2003.

"The bill authorizes $50 billion over five years to prevent infection, treat people already ill from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and care for children orphaned by the epidemic. The program, known as the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), provided $15 billion over its first five years."

Geldof's View

Irish rocker and humanitarian Bob Geldof writes in Time about shadowing the president during part of his Africa trip. Sounds like fun.

"I gave the president my book. He raised an eyebrow. 'Who wrote this for ya, Geldof?' he said without looking up from the cover. Very dry. 'Who will you get to read it for you, Mr. President?' I replied. No response.

"The Most Powerful Man in the World studied the front cover. Geldof in Africa -- ' "The international best seller." You write that bit yourself?'

"'That's right. It's called marketing. Something you obviously have no clue about or else I wouldn't have to be here telling people your Africa story.'"

Geldof has ample praise for Bush's AIDS efforts, but concerns about the widespread effects of Bush's war.

At one point during their interview, Bush launches into his "See, I believe we're in an ideological struggle with extremism" talk. Geldof puts a stop to it.

"'Mr. President, please. There are things you've done I could never possibly agree with and there are things I've done in my life that you would disapprove of, too. And that would make your hospitality awkward. The cost has been too much. History will play itself out.' 'I think history will prove me right,' he shoots back. 'Who knows,' I say. . . .

"'I'm comfortable with that decision,' he says [about attacking Iraq]. But he can't be. The laws of unintended consequences would determine that. At one point I suggest that he will never be given credit for good policies, like those here in Africa, because many people view him 'as a walking crime against humanity.' He looks very hurt by that. And I'm sorry I said it, because he's a very likable fellow."

Geldof's takeaway about Bush: "He is in love with America. Not the idea of America, but rather an inchoate notion of a space -- a glorious metaphysical entity. But it is clear that since its mendacious beginnings, this war has thrown up a series of abuses that disgrace the U.S.'s central proposition. In the need to find morally neutralizing euphemisms to describe torture and abuse, the language itself became tortured and abused. Rendition, waterboarding, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib -- all are codes for what America is not. America has mortally compromised its own essential values of civil liberty while imposing its own idea of freedom on others who may not want it. The Bush regime has been divisive -- but not in Africa. I read it has been incompetent -- but not in Africa. It has created bitterness -- but not here in Africa. Here, his administration has saved millions of lives."

Late Night Humor

Stephen Colbert had former White House press secretary Tony Snow as a guest last night, and it was brutal.

"There are some things that we as Americans deserve not to know. Because if we know, the enemies know, right?" Colbert asked.

Snow: "Exactly."

Colbert: "If the enemies know that we can waterboard them, then they can prepare for that by splashing a little water in their face every day. Because the easiest thing to do is to prepare yourself to not feel like you're drowning."

Snow: "Exactly."

When Snow acknowledged that "we all knew the president would be unpopular because of the war," Colbert interjected: "He's not that unpopular. The latest poll have his approval rating at 19 percent. Which is low for a president, but high for a fetish."

Snow: "Ouch."

Cartoon Watch

Mike Luckovich on the fate of the Bush Bubble; Bill Mitchell on Bush's skill as a bus driver.