Iraq escalation benefits only Jeb Bush

http://www.margieburns.com/blog/_archives/2007/1/11/2640574.html


It is difficult to imagine the sane person who could imagine that supporting the Bush escalation in Iraq will benefit John McCain politically. Even the cleaned-up language in which the president dressed his presentation last night (January 10, 2007) makes clear that he expects further carnage. Chilling, and chillingly offhand, suggestions that the troops have had "too many restrictions," that armed forces will have the "green light to enter" neighborhoods, and that they will be "going door to door” – “to gain trust" -- show us a Baghdad like the world of Anne Frank.



Senator McCain presents as someone who figures it’s his turn, per generally the way GOP presidential nominations work – the next man in line steps up, wins the nomination usually without too much difficulty, and then wins or loses the general election. The occasional exception like Barry Goldwater is characterized for a generation in party lore as someone who tore the party apart and then went on to lose the presidential election in a landslide. McCain is showing his loyalty in spades to the Bush team, to the Oval Office. But only some obliviousness to history would predict that his loyalty will be repaid with unstinting support by Team Bush.



There can be no happy Iraq outcome for McCain. If things get worse – the overwhelming probability – then even he will be forced to bail on the policy at some point, and the question will always be why he did not do so earlier, saving more lives; why he did not put his independent power base to better use. He will be associated with, and he is aggressively associating himself with, catastrophe. If things were by some miracle to get better, the Iraq War is still Bush’s war. Meanwhile, Governor Jeb Bush sits comfortably by in Florida, in relative political safety in spite of Mark Foley, the sugar growers, his family’s several run-ins with the law, the ecological disaster in the Everglades, and the ongoing election fraud in Florida. Jeb Bush is not tied to Iraq policy; he has no son in Iraq; he is not storming the country in support of Bush’s escalation.



White House Iraq policy at this point, in other words, may be guided by desire to help Jeb win next time. This is the only perspective from which the escalation makes even bad sense.
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I don't see how the escalation would help him at all. When I think of politicians who have spoken out against the Iraq war, Jeb Bush is not the first name that comes to mind.