Bush's Assurances

Bush is fond of saying something to the effect of, "We'll be sending you everything we've got to make sure you're going to be OK." That should be a sure sign to start worrying even more than you have before. Why? Because it means he's already checked out on the issue at hand.

The most recent example, of course, is his videotaped response to the threat of Katrina. He heard the evidence that there was going to be a major disaster, and when he had heard enough, he rattled off the same old "please know that the federal government is fully prepared to help." What is the evidence he makes these statements on? It seems like he just says it because he's done listening and has to say *something*.

Bush has delegated his entire presidency this way. With the Dubai Ports sale, he wasn't even aware of the deal before he said that his administration had fully vetted it. When Bremer briefed him about what was going on in Iraq, he said "We will not fail", or some such idiocy.

The problem is that everybody in the Bush administration thinks somewhere down the line is someone who is going to take responsibility and actually get the job done. But since he's replaced qualified people with cronies, it's now cronies all the way down.