The Incredible Shrinking President

By Keith Boykin, in politics
Wednesday, July 16 2003, 10:21AM

A few months ago, almost everyone in Washington seemed to think George W. Bush was invincible. He had won two tax cuts, won the war against Afghanistan and seemed to win the war in Iraq. But now his administration is unraveling. With the federal deficit at a new high, no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq and mounting casualties in Baghdad, even American soldiers are questioning the country's leadership.

Back in April when America was gung ho for war, I never imagined that three months later American soldiers in Iraq would be openly criticizing the president and the secretary of defense on national television. But that's exactly what happened last night on ABC's World News Tonight.

Last night, ABC showed soldiers stationed in Iraq complaining about their mission. Promised several times that they would return home soon, the soldiers felt misled by the Bush administration's failure to keep its word.

What would you say to Donald Rumsfeld if you could speak to him right now, the reporter asked. "If he was here," said Pfc. Jason Punyahotra, "I would ask him why we're still here, why we've been told so many times and it's changed." In the back of the group, Spc. Clinton Deitz put up his hand. "If Donald Rumsfeld was here," he said, "I'd ask him for his resignation."

Could this be the same military that fought for "regime change" in Iraq? Apparently so. Two months after President Bush declared the war over, the soldiers don't understand why they're still in Iraq.

The casualties have escalated so high that one American soldier a day is being killed in Iraq. The Iraqi resistance, well-organized or not, knows that it can fight a longterm guerrilla war of attrition against an arrogant outside military force that refuses to allow international help inside the country.

And now that the media have begun to report the evidence that President Bush lied to the American people in his State of the Union address, even the congressional supporters of the war are changing their tune. Yesterday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), both of whom voted for the war, openly questioned the administration's credibility.

The Bush Administration claims the charges of deception are overblown, but instead, the charge that Iraq was deceiving the world was overblown. Bush said then that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa to build nuclear weapons. It turns out that wasn't true. According to insiders, Saddam Hussein was more interested in writing the great Iraqi novel than in developing novel ways to threaten America.

While the media and the politicians began to challenge the president on the war in the past week, the administration quietly acknowledged that the federal budget deficit would reach $450 billion this year, an all-time high. The Bushies quickly switched to spin mode and tried to argue that the deficit doesn't matter, but Alan Greenspan went to Capitol Hill yesterday and said it does.

When Bush took office in 2001, he predicted a $242-billion surplus for the 2003 fiscal year, but according to Newsday, "the estimates for the same 2003 budget have changed to an $80-billion deficit in February 2002 to $304 billion last February to $455 billion yesterday."

Once again, either the White House can't tell the truth or it doesn't know what it's doing. Either way, it's bad for the American people. As with Iraq, our government seems to be engaged in a pattern of deception designed to fool our own people

Higher deficits mean the government has to borrow more and more money. That means higher mortgage rates for home buyers, higher interest rates for consumers and businesses, less revenue for corporations, and fewer jobs for workers.

It's no wonder that Bush's popularity is sinking with every new poll. Just three years ago, the nation enjoyed a $236 billion budget surplus, but today we have a record deficit. And if James Carville's old maxim still holds true, the 2004 presidential election will be won or lost on one issue: "It's the economy, stupid!"

Those who thought Bush would ride to easy victory would do well to remember the lesson of his father. After a successful war against Iraq in 1991, George Bush Sr. enjoyed a 90 percent approval rating. A year later, with the economy in tatters, the American people dumped him. Could history repeat itself?

U.S. Soldiers Question the Bush Administration

U.S. Soldier Killed In Iraq Wednesday

Poll: Bush Approval Ratings Are Slipping

White House Sees Record $455 Billion Deficit

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