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You Be George's Coach

By: Chip Spear, Fri Dec 9th, 2005 08:09:06 PM

Your mission, should you agree to accept it, is to define a strategy for good old Georgie to regain his equilibrium and get his presidency back on solid ground. There is no question that he has had a bad few months and the near future doesn't look good either, with the potential indictments coming for Rove and Libby. The offense is definitely sputtering. What do you do, what do you recommend that he do to score some points and turn the tide?

As a coach of an athletic team, whenever we are having problems I usually try to simplify the game, follow the Vince Lombardi philosophy and return to basics. With that in mind, what is the problem? Well, one thing for sure is that people don't think G.W. is being an effective administrator these days. If I were the coach here, I would say to focus on one thing and make sure it succeeds. Get the best people, work hard, and deliver. Second, people are sceptical of all the photo ops. Stop them unless they result in solid acts that provide substantive results, no more fake crap. Third, about Harriet Miers, ask supporters to hold off on the criticism as much as possible and then provide the Senate with information that they want. If she is actually that good, she should be able to stand on her own two feet. She has to establish her own identity, independent of the Presidency. She has to impress the right that she is not against their beliefs. I wouldn't say that she should say that she will do everything they want. I don't think any judge or potential judge should say they will be beholden to any specific political viewpoint, but she can allay some of their fears.

Fourth, regarding Iraq, the President needs to pray a lot, because he really screwed this up. Walking away soon would be an utter disaster, pouring more troops in would be politically and logistically difficult, and staying the course, considering our success or lack thereof, is not promising. Hope that the constitution passes and people settle down to rebuilding rather than destroying their homeland. I know that I would recommend an all out effort to provide aid to the earthquake area of Pakistan. It might not have a direct bearing on Iraq, but it is a center of extreme fundamentalist Islam. Anything we can do there would not only save lives but show those people we are really on their side. Wow, what a mess this is.

There is my basic outline.

About the author: Political strategist and commentator Political activist, political officeholder in state and local elections. Yale graduate, History major, political science minor. Athlete, Ivy League Water Polo coach.

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