Black Box Report

With his tenure in office in the final stretch, and perhaps sensing the need to achieve something positive during his presidency, George W. Bush decided to go to the Middle East and make a bid for that Holy Grail of presidential accomplishments: peace in the Middle East. Mr. Bush is very confident this will happen by the end of his term. Everyone else? Not so much:

It's difficult to find a soul who isn't skeptical about Bush's Mid-East tour - both its purpose and the fact the tour is intended to improve on a mess whose perpetuation the visitor, Bush, is considered to be largely responsible for.

Oh, I don't know. You know what they say about Bush, don't misunderestimate him. He's a uniter, not a divider:

The fact is, Bush's genius for bringing people together has already had an impact on the Middle East. Apparently he is soundly hated by both pro- and anti-Hamas forces alike.

It's telling that with the incredibly volatile situation in the region, made moreso by his own foreign policy, Bush waits until now to even attempt some first-hand diplomacy. And even though he's endorsed full statehood for Palestinians, even they don't think Bush can get it done. An op-ed in the Lebanon Daily Star calls it too little, too late:

His belated push for Middle East peace during his final months in office is about as likely to succeed as the efforts of a lazy student who whittles away an entire semester in fraternity halls before cramming at the last minute for final exams.

Why should he treat the Middle East any differently than Yale?

So, if we go out on a limb and predict Bush will not achieve peace in the Middle East, what has the trip accomplished?

Most agree that it is, at best, a photo op, a vacation. Most also agree that this trip should have come seven years ago. But that would have taken real statesmanship: the ability to talk, but more importantly, the ability to listen and weigh opinions before making decisions. The ability to project a version of American power that does not bully and humiliate, but inspires hope and resolves conflict. The ability to create common ground, not a distinctly American form of sectarian conflict.

Let Bush’s trip, as one snapshot of the culmination of decades of American foreign policy failures, stand as an example for our next president of exactly how not to behave on the international stage.

"How not to behave..." Now that sounds like his legacy.

After months of phoning it in, Fred Thompson was finally ready for his closeup! First stop prior to last night's debate, a conference call with rightwing bloggers to rally the troops. And as ol' Fred knows, if you want someone to "regurgitate exactly" your talking points du jour, there's one blog you need to have. So, of course, Powerline was on the call:

Thompson made it clear that he's "drawing a line in South Carolina"...staking his candidacy on winning the primary there. He hopes to accomplish this by advancing his claim (valid in my view) that he's the one major Republican candidate with a long record of taking conservative positions pretty much across-the-board.

Thompson's theme will be that he's fighting a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican party in South Carolina. His opponents, he will argue, all plan to move the party away from its Reaganite roots and towards the left.

And then it was off to the debate, where all the candidates tried to out-Reagan one another, but OL' Fred was perhaps the Reaganest, mixing up lively sound bites with attacks on his rivals, particularly Mike Huckabee, calling pretty much all of them a bunch of liberals:

So much for the 11th Commandment! That was just the beginning of the night for Thompson, who was so vibrant, so energetic, so ... awake that it almost made you think he was running for president.
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He went after Huckabee every chance he got, a clear indication that the two men are competing for a similar pool of conservative voters in South Carolina.

And did ol' Fred nail his big scene? Boy, did he! NRO's Jim Geraghty says ol' Fred blew right past the Reagan comparisons to remind him of...fictional character Roy Hobbs?

Winner: Thompson. This performance was so commanding, I wanted his last answer to echo back to the lights in the back of the auditorium, blow out all the lamps and spotlights, for the theme to "the Natural" to play, and for him to trot around the stage in slow motion while sparks showered down in the background.

Someone needs a cold shower...Geraghty lays it on a bit thick, perhaps, but Fred certainly delivered a breakout performance when he needed to. But not everyone is convinced it will help:

It's not Huck who's ahead right now in SC. If Fred's unwilling to attack McCain too then he's not really trying to win, he's simply trying to take Huck down. Which benefits … McCain.

Whether or not Thompson is intentionally acting as McCain's stalking horse, ol' Fred pretty much needs a win in South Carolina to live to fight another day. If not, it may be the death knell of his campaign. (Cue Law and Order sting) We'll have to wait and see.