A Dignified Departure?

"'I think that the president-elect would not want us to hold off on having a meeting of this importance to wait until January, or even later, because there are some serious issues that we need to start dealing with now so that we can avoid this happening again,' she said."

Bush and the FBI

In a speech to FBI Academy graduates this morning, Bush once again tried to make the case that his administration deserves credit for preventing further terrorist attacks after 9/11. But he doesn't offer any evidence to back it up.

Previewing the speech, which was e-mailed to reporters last night, John D. McKinnon blogged for the Wall Street Journal that Bush "isn't doing any out-and-out campaigning for Republicans this week. But he's still hoping to score a few points with voters on the national-security front."

In the speech, McKinnon wrote, "Bush plans to highlight his administration's success in preventing another terrorist attack in the U.S., making perhaps his strongest claim for credit yet."

Said Bush: "More than seven years have passed without another attack on our soil. And this is not an accident. Since 9/11, we have gone on the offense against the terrorists abroad -- so we do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.) We stand with young democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond as they seek to replace the hateful ideology of the extremists with a hopeful alternative of liberty. . . .

"Here at home, we've transformed our national security institutions and have given our intelligence and law enforcement professionals the tools and the resources they need to do their job, and that is to protect the American people. . . .

"Since 9/11, the Bureau has worked with our partners around the world to disrupt planned terrorist attacks. Most Americans will never know the full stories of how these attacks were stopped and how many lives were saved."

But why shouldn't we know, if any such attacks really were stopped?

As I wrote in my September 11 column, Bush the Great Protector, leaving aside the issue of whether he could have prevented the first attack, Bush has yet to provide one bit of evidence that any of the actions he ordered -- not to mention the most controversial ones, such as torturing terror suspects and eavesdropping on Americans without a warrant -- prevented another.

Economy Watch

Peter Whoriskey, David Cho and Zachary A. Goldfarb write in The Washington Post: "Negotiators for the Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are nearing agreement on a plan to have the government guarantee the mortgages of millions of distressed homeowners in what would be a significant departure for the federal rescue program, which has so far directed relief exclusively to banks and other financial institutions."

So what's the holdup?

"Several sources said the mortgage program still faces resistance from the White House. A spokesman for President Bush said last night that the administration was analyzing various proposals."

Iraq Watch

Dan Eggen and Karen DeYoung write in The Washington Post: "A senior Iraqi political leader said yesterday he is 'doubtful' that a bilateral agreement authorizing U.S. forces to remain in Iraq after the end of the year would be approved by the Iraqi cabinet and parliament.

"Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, said most political factions in Iraq want the accord to go through. But he said the country is 'in a situation of intellectual terrorism, where people are not able to state their real positions' for fear of appearing too close to the United States and of undercutting their standing in provincial elections scheduled for January. . . .

"The assessment came amid growing signs of trouble in negotiations over a status-of-forces agreement, or SOFA, that would govern the U.S. military presence in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires Dec. 31. The process stalled again this week when the Iraqi cabinet decided to reopen negotiations and propose a series of amendments to the pact.

"President Bush, who met with Barzani yesterday in the Oval Office, said he was 'analyzing' the proposals and is optimistic that an agreement can be reached. 'We obviously want to be helpful and constructive without undermining basic principles,' Bush said. 'And I remain very hopeful and confident that the SOFA will get passed.'

"But the mild encouragement from Bush came as other administration officials strongly suggested that a compromise is unlikely, increasing the possibility that the issue will become one of the first major challenges facing the next U.S. president."

Foreign Policy Watch

Barry Schweid writes for the Associated Press that "Bush appears destined to step down without achieving many of his global objectives. . . .

"[H]is goals of democratizing the Middle East and winning worldwide respect for the United States are at best works in progress.

"Political chaos in Israel this year snuffed out any lingering hopes he could produce a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel. . . .

"Iran is clinging to a right to enrich uranium while fending off economic and political offers designed to sidetrack any attempt to build nuclear weapons. North Korea, meanwhile, zigzags on how much access to give outside inspectors to its nuclear weapons program while wobbling on a pledge to disable a nuclear reactor.

"Iraq has become less volatile, but it is still not the democratic jewel Bush had hoped to inspire after an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein and despite huge investments in American troops and capital.

"In Afghanistan, the Taliban, the hard-line Muslim group forced from power with a 2001 U.S. invasion, has mustered renewed strength. U.S. casualties are mounting and there is talk of the pro-U.S. government reconciling with the militants.

"Pakistan has turned out to be an uncertain ally despite massive U.S. economic assistance. And Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaida leaders are thought to be hiding in the country's frontier region.

"The list of disappointments is long. In the face of them, Bush has made few strategic adjustments."

Rosa Brooks writes in her Los Angeles Times opinion column that she worries about "the national security booby traps the Bush administration is leaving behind."

For instance, in Iraq, "the administration appears to be doing its best to make Obama's planned troop drawdown difficult."

And "after years of Bush administration malfeasance, increasing U.S. troop levels without an accompanying dramatic shift in regional strategy risks turning Afghanistan into another Iraq.

"Or worse, because the Afghan booby trap is wired tightly to the Pakistan booby trap. Pakistan is the proud but horrifyingly unstable possessor of a nuclear arsenal. If the escalating conflicts in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions spin out of control, we could end up in another Iraq-like situation -- only with weapons of mass destruction in the mix for real this time. . . .

"Like it or not, Obama will inherit a situation in which U.S. credibility and popularity in Pakistan are close to zero and the Pakistani government is only barely in control.

"It's a situation that's virtually designed to blow up in his face."

Endorsement Watch

Ex-neocon Francis Fukuyama writes for the American Conservative: "I'm voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don't work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale."

Pre-Emption Watch

Bush apparently has not one, but two doctrines of pre-emption. The second is domestic.

Justin Blum and Greg Stohr write for Bloomberg: "Political appointees at the Food and Drug Administration adopted rules that help shield drugmakers from patients' lawsuits over opposition from the agency's staff, a House report says

"Appointees of President George W. Bush supported the changes in 2006 and this year, according to a report today by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The panel is headed by Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, who opposed the rule changes."

Kevin Freking writes for the Associated Press: "At issue is language in a drug-labeling rule from 2006 that effectively limits when people can sue in state court over injury claims involving medications. The FDA contends federal regulations prevail when there is a conflict with state law. This concept is called pre-emption."

Alicia Mundy writes in the Wall Street Journal: "The administration began adding language to more than 50 regulatory rulings that pre-empt state standards and lawsuits at several agencies in 2005.

"The first such ruling at the FDA appeared in January 2006, surprising outside observers because the language hadn't appeared in earlier public drafts."

Super Busy

Jeremy Pelofsky writes for Reuters: "President George W. Bush, who said in March he would find ample time to campaign for Republican White House contender John McCain, is going to spend the last weekend of the 2008 race at, well, Camp David.

"Bush has record low job approval ratings due to the prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the sour economy. He will leave Friday for the U.S. presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland and will remain secluded until Sunday, according to his public schedule released late Tuesday evening."

Here's Perino at yesterday's press briefing: "The President is pretty focused on the activities that we have here, especially getting this economy back in order. As we've said for a while, the President was going to be focusing on this. We cancelled a lot of our fundraisers, and he's going to focus on being with Mrs. Bush and others this weekend at Camp David.

Even Cheney Is More Welcome

The Associated Press reports: "Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to participate in a Republican rally on Saturday in Laramie."

Late Night Humor

Conan O'Brien: "Very strange story out of Washington. . . . The Secret Service, they arrested a man who climbed over the White House fence. True story. Yeah. The Secret Service told the man: 'Get back here, Mr. President, you have two more months.'"

Cartoon Watch

Pat Oliphant on Bush's service, Jimmy Margulies on the MBA president, Riber Hansson on the end of the roller coaster ride, and Alan Moir on Bush's exit.