Democracy Abroad, But Not at Home

Out of power and angry about it, the Sunnis have been blowing up stuff in Iraq. Now the NYT reports this morning that the Bush administration is trying to pressure the Shiites in Iraq"to consider conciliatory gestures that would include allowing former Baath Party members to serve in the government."

Great idea. I wish the Bush people would take their own advice and try this wonderful strategy of conciliation at home.

Fat chance of that happening. Thi kind of democracy is good for the Iraqis but not Americans, Bush officials repeatedly seem to imply. Remember Dick Cheney's pithy comment about the Bush tax cuts,"It's our due." What kind of message about democracy did that comment send?

Bush people are always complaining about the partisan warfare in Congress and Washington. IT'S THEIR OWN FAULT. If Bush II had governed like Bush I there would be a lot less of the partisan squabbling.

Imagine for a moment that Bush I, realizing he had a thin claim on legitimacy after the election of 2000, had governed in a bipartisan manner. How different the atmosphere there would be! He might even have included a couple of prominent Democrats in the cabinet to create a unity government after 9-11. But he chose to wield power by dividing the country not uniting it. And now we are supposed to feel sorry for him because the dastardly Democrats are railing on him all the time.

Please.

One cannot govern like a divider and then complain when the country is divided.