The Occasional Observer

Wow, there are probably so many levels to Rove's exit that we will never even begin to understand. The most likely is that the Republican machine is working behind the scenes, trying to boost Bush's popularity over the next year as much as possible, to give us a chance in '08. From a political point of view, it makes sense. Right now Congress' (i.e., Dems') approval rating is in the toilet, and with the troop surge apparently showing some progress in Iraq Bush's numbers are slowly edging up. Trying to capitalize on this momentum so that independent voters don't just write off the Republican party is critical. Rumsfeld, Rove, Cheney, and Wolfowitz were the four largest targets in the administration, and now three are gone.

The irony is, at an abstract level I believe the goal of their neoconservative policies is correct, they just didn't understand the execution. I believe the only long-term guarantor we have of peace and stability in the world is for societies to be relatively free, open democracies. Only when people have access to free media, and feel like they have a stake in the game, will they fully reject terrorism and kick it out of their backyards. It would be great if we could simply have installed democracy painlessly in Iraq, but clearly nation-building on our own is not the right approach. Perhaps the right approach is to be the shining city on a hill touted by Reagan, and use more subversive means to enable populations to overthrow dictatorial regimes.