The Zeitgeist Checklist

By Dana Milbank

	#1 MISSILE DYSFUNCTION: (Last week: 6, Weeks on list: 2) North Korea: The Bush administration is relieved that North Korea’s long-range missile failed in a Fourth of July test, but it still backs a Japan-authored U.N. Security Council resolution to punish Kim Jong Il. The Chinese and Russian judges give the resolution low scores, putting the issue, along with Iran, into another classic U.N. stalemate. This time, President Bush is eager to avoid a confrontation; preemption is messier when the other guy has nukes.
	#2 UPPITY MALIKI (Last week: 7, Weeks on list: 2) Iraq: The drip, drip, drip of allegations about atrocities by U.S. troops continues – and the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wants to rethink the immunity given to American forces. Maliki isn’t mollified by U.S. charges of rape and murder filed against a former Army private; he plans to open his own investigation. Meantime, violence spreads in the region: Israel invades Gaza and calls airstrikes in response to Palestinian rocket attacks and the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier.
	#3 ¿COMO SE DICE "CHADS"? (Last week: --, Weeks on list: 1) Mexico: In blatant imitation of the American political system, Mexicans hold their own disputed presidential election, and the script is familiar. The conservative, Felipe Calderón, wins the official count. But the leftist candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, refuses to concede and vows a court fight. The dispute appears headed for the Mexican equivalent of the Supreme Court (and a 5 to 4 decision?). Fortunately, the next president will not take office until Dec. 1, which gives Katherine Harris plenty of time to straighten things out.
	#4 LAYED TO REST (Last week: --, Weeks on list: 1) Enron: The Jack Abramoff and Valerie Plame scandals have (temporarily) dropped from the Zeitgeist because of a lull in action. But Enron reemerges as Kenneth Lay, awaiting sentencing for fraud and conspiracy, suffers a fatal heart attack. The White House eulogizes “Kenny Boy” by reminding everybody that he was only an “acquaintance” of Bush and not a “friend.” At least Lay’s lawyers can now ask the court to erase his conviction.
	#5 LET’S TAKE THIS OUTSIDE (Last week: --, Weeks on list: 1) Immigration: House Republicans, determined to defeat the “guest worker” program favored by Bush and the Senate, start “field hearings” to try to prove that the Senate plan would be a boon to terrorists. The Senate Judiciary Committee retaliates with a pro-guest-worker hearing in Philadelphia. Bush goes to Dunkin’ Donuts. Nobody’s terribly optimistic about an agreement on an immigration bill this year, although everybody professes to want one.
	#6 PUMP IT UP (Last week: 9, Weeks on list: 2) Economy: Oil prices reach new records, which means gasoline prices – one of the biggest drags on Bush’s approval rating — are sure to follow. The high fuel prices are worrying employers, who issued profit warnings and hired fewer workers in June than Wall Street had expected. “Good news,” Bush says of the jobs report.
	#7 FRATRICIDE (Last week: --, Weeks on list: 1) Democrats: Bush and the Republicans might be undone by Iraq, North Korea and gas prices, but the opposition party is doing its best to self-destruct. In New Jersey, a shutdown of the state government by Democrats could sink appointed Sen. Bob Menendez’s prospects in November. In Connecticut, beleaguered Sen. Joseph Lieberman threatens to run as an independent if he’s beaten by an antiwar candidate in the Democratic primary.
	#8 WHAT LIBERAL JUDGES? (Last week: 3, Weeks on list: 2) Culture wars: Top courts in Georgia and New York rule against same-sex marriage. The Georgia court reinstates a constitutional ban on gay marriage, while New York rules that such unions are illegal. But the legal victories for religious conservatives could be a political burden: It’s difficult to campaign against activist judges if the activist judges have done what you want.
	#9 LIGHTING THE CANDLE (Last week: --, Weeks on list: 1) Space: Bush, playing Yankee Doodle Dandy, celebrates his 60th birthday two days early, on the Fourth of July. NASA chooses the same patriotic day to return the space shuttle to orbit — and mercifully it has better luck than the North Koreans. Washington anxiously watches Discovery’s 12-day mission: Another mishap would doom the entire shuttle program.
	#10 OLD EUROPE, RENEWED (Last week: 10, Weeks on list: 2) Soccer: The World Cup must be terribly dispiriting to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. After an all-Old Europe semifinal round, it’s Dominique de Villepin’s France against Romano Prodi’s Italy in today’s final.