The Dean’s List
Donald Rumsfeld: A+ (Last Semester: A-) Rummy continues to rise. A month ago it wasn’t clear how things were going to turn out. Now air bombing and Special Forces, marines, and the CIA have all helped deliver Afghanistan to the US and the Northern Alliance. He has guided the Pentagon through this war with aplomb and still hasn’t told the press what is going on. Bravo.
George W. Bush: A (Last Semester: A) Bush continues to ride high in the polls as he executes a war plan, homeland security, and manages a recession which it is now known started way back in March of this year. Add to this the ever-warming relationship with his friend ‘Vlad’ and it is becoming increasingly clear that Bush is the equivalent of a Truman rather than a Bush I.
The Washington Post: A- This is the national paper that has turned into the opinion page of the hawks during this new war. Under the leadership of Fred Hiatt the Post is a must read. Regular Op-ed contributors Robert Kagan, Michael Kelly, Charles Krauthammer, George Will, and Jim Hoagland are all hawkish-not to mention special contributions from others like William Kristol and Rush Limbaugh.
Air Power: A- The conventional wisdom was that air power was only of a limited use. But it has proven to work, and better than ever. Newsweek reported that in the Gulf War it took 10 bombs to hit one target. Now in Afghanistan the ration is two to one. Blowing stuff up real good has never really worked very well. The only question remaining will be the relationship between the air bombing and ground support, in this case the Northern Alliance. Can this combination work in a better-defended place such as Iraq? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Russia: A- Continues to be a solid ally. This past month was Putin’s warm meeting with Bush at the BBQ summit and more significant was evidence that Russia’s greatest aid in the war was oil. Somehow Russia is taking on OPEC and forcing the price of oil lower.
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