Does Bush Know Something We Don't?

"Current programs are delivered 21 months late on average, five months later than in 2000.

"'In most cases, programs also failed to deliver capabilities when promised -- often forcing war fighters to spend additional funds on maintaining' existing weapons systems, the report says."

Call It the Paulson Proposal

Stephen Labaton writes in the New York Times: "As Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. laid out an ambitious plan to overhaul the regulatory apparatus that oversees the nation's financial system on Monday, lawmakers and lobbyists from an array of industries opposed to the plan predicted that most of it would be dead on arrival. . . .

"[M]ost parts of the plan are not likely to be adopted any time soon, if at all."

Peter G. Gosselin writes in the Los Angeles Times that the proposal "sets the stage for a confrontation with Congress by offering no relief for troubled homeowners and in many instances advocating less, not more, federal supervision of the nation's financial system. . . .

"As a result, even if the new structure were eventually adopted, it would do little to prevent a repeat of the current crisis or something similar, the Treasury secretary acknowledged.

"The limits of the administration's approach drew immediate criticism from Democrats as well as some analysts."

Massimo Calabresi writes for Time: "Democrats are skeptical that the Administration has finally seen the merits of tighter financial oversight. They say Bush's move, while a good start and potentially capable of getting bipartisan support, fits more closely with the pattern he has established since they took over Congress in 2006: a near freeze on new regulations unless and until the legislative or scientific ground gives way beneath him, at which point he launches savvy, preemptive moves to limit the scope of any new regulatory power."

But if this whole thing sinks like a lead balloon, don't blame the president! He is officially not putting his political capital behind this one.

White House press secretary Dana Perino made that clear yesterday.

Q. "Dana, is the President's goal to get this passed and in place before he leaves office?"

Perino: "I think we'll have to see. I think if there is -- it's a big attempt, but this President doesn't shy away from big challenges -- and also, if necessary, actions in order to address problems. And this is something, if you've looked at some of the coverage, that Secretary Paulson has been working on this package for about a year."