Best Laid Plans

President Bush's desire to bring democracy to the Middle East has hit a snag. An Afghan man who converted from Islam to Christianity is on trial for making that change and is facing death. Although there might be a legal technicality in the case, it's clear that (once again) Bush was asleep at the wheel.

When you add this to ignoring the warnings about 9/11, Iraq's real nuclear capabilities and the impact of Hurricane Katrina, you really have to wonder what is exactly involved in this man's decision making process. Obviously, gathering facts, stats and data isn't part of it. It's hard to argue what political advantages this brings Bush; how does the execution of a Christian in a Muslim-dominated country rally the religious, conservative base of his party when he was a key player in the formation of that country's government?

If he could actually back up his claim that his administration can do more than one thing at a time, things like this wouldn't happen. By my count, there's three things he's done that people of all political spectrums can agree he's done well: pass a tax cut and win two elections. Every other issue is either up for debate, in flux, or is going badly (No Child Left Behind, Medicare, Social Security Reform).

Now some would say that he's just not good at governance. Maybe, but wouldn't it be nice if just one time there was a issue where he crossed his T's and dotted his I's? One domestic policy where he knew the pros and cons, one foreign issue where every scenario was thoroughly discussed in his presence? Don't the American people deserve that kind of vigilance?

I think they do. I think they deserve more than empty "Trust Me" speeches. I think they deserve disclosure. But let's start small: someone give the President a newspaper (make that five or six) so and let him read the news himself so he can get a first-hand view of what's really going on in this country. Because at this rate it won't be long before the persecution that's occurring in Afghanistan will be mirrored in America.