Bush Sneak Trips, Pep Rallies, Won't Fix Iraq

by Margaret Carlson

June 16 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush beams with delight when he pulls off a surprise, like a kid watching a bunkmate discover his bed's been short-sheeted.

It surely pleased him that he fooled most of his cabinet and the public when he popped up in Iraq on Tuesday. For added delight, the small press contingent taken along on the trip had to hand over their cell phones the minute they were told.

The last time Bush was publicly this happy was Thanksgiving 2003, when not just the cabinet but some in his family were stunned to see the president hoisting a fake turkey in a hangar at Baghdad International Airport just as the Associated Press was publishing a White House release on the meal Bush was supposedly enjoying at the presidential ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Not since Michael Deaver, with his backdrops and bunting, has there been a White House so good at producing dramatic scenes for a president to star in. Aides barely tried to disguise how intent they were to capitalize on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death, inviting cameras into Monday's meeting of advisers at Camp David and doling out a detailed back story on how Bush stole away early from dinner there, saying he was going to read.

Instead he stole away to Andrews Air Force Base and the next morning showed up at the palace that once belonged to Saddam Hussein. He wanted the opportunity, he said, to look Iraq's new prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, in the eye, still Bush's favored way of measuring the character of a stranger, even though it proved useless in sizing up Russia's Vladimir Putin, who quickly reverted to standard oligarchic behavior.

Fresh Chance

Still, a personal pep rally for the third government to try to run the place since Saddam's toppling can't hurt. With Zarqawi gone and Maliki in, there may be a fresh chance to stem the unrelenting violence. It's too bad the newly appointed interior minister has ties to a murderous Shiite militia, but all factions have a stake in the success of the latest Baghdad crackdown backed by 75,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops enforcing a strict curfew and random searches.

The trip kicked off a new phase in another war, the one for control of Congress. Once again the strategy is to depict Democrats as a bunch of wussies who don't support the troops, and lack the nerve to kill Zarqawi or end terrorism.

Republicans in Congress scheduled a week of debate on a vapid resolution ``declaring that the United States will prevail in the global war on terror,'' as if saying it made it so, calling for votes designed to expose Democrats as weak, wavering, sheepish defeatists, according to a confidential memo from the Majority leader John Boehner, published on the Web site http://www.thinkprogress.org .

Rove Redeployed

While cabinet members might not have known about Bush's trip, here's a guy I bet did -- Karl Rove. Since getting a pass from the special prosecutor on leaking Valerie Plame's name, he's been redeployed to reprise his taunt that Democrats have a dangerous ``pre-9/11 mentality.''

As Air Force One was being warmed up, Rove was touching down in New Hampshire to warn the faithful, ``When it gets tough and when it gets difficult they (Democrats) fall back on that party's old pattern of cutting and running.'' Ann Coulter couldn't have said it better.

For both wars, Bush needs more than pep rallies. He needs a new strategy. Without that, there will be more critics in his own party joining with members like Maryland Representative Wayne Gilchrest, the Republican's John Murtha. A decorated Marine veteran, Gilchrest explained to his colleagues how on the battlefield the smell of death creates a sense of urgency, which is absent in this war.

What War?

``The administration does not act like there's a war going on,'' he said. ``The Congress certainly doesn't act like there's a war going on.''

If Bush doesn't display a sense of urgency lasting longer than a six-hour trip, he may find himself visiting embattled congressional districts the way he visits Baghdad -- spirited in- and-outs with the lights off, rallying the base and then getting out of Dodge.

This week, the First Lady made an announced trip to help a Republican senatorial candidate in New Jersey, Tom Kean Jr. Unlike when Vice President Dick Cheney arrived a few months ago, Kean didn't come up with a phony excuse not to be seen with him. At this rate, Laura may be the last member of the administration keeping a public schedule.