What Could Possibly Go Wrong ?

If your name is George II or Hillary you might have been thinking that awhile ago, and finding out now what the answer is. BushCo had its Mission Accomplished moment and then endless misery followed with a slight respite and then a return to misery. Before there was ever a vote, Hillary was anointed, Ms Inevitable, then there were votes and caucuses and then there was the Ohio respite and then now. Both were marked by something very similar, short term thinking and a sense of infallibility.

BushCo looked at Saddam's piss ant army and ours and said, slam dunk, rightfully. They didn't bother to take into account three entirely separate groups or consider that one of those groups was badly split and these groups were split culturally, socially, politically, and religiously - some things worth consideration at any time. The "we can break their army" is short term, the long term is a country with its ruling structure broken and needing replacement. BushCo believed its own propaganda, a serious error. It has reached a point where whatever happens, no matter how horrible, is now a "defining moment" and a sign of success for the President of the USA. The Surge is a success because now the Iraqi Shiites can feel free to go to war with each other. Political rapprochement be damned.

Hillary Clinton went into the campaign season bruited as the inevitable candidate, more money than god himself and a professional staff the envy of all and media credentials to the max. They believed it and most of it was their own propaganda. They were playing that card before Hillary ever announced and now it's blown up in their faces. Hillary never brought a message beyond I'm a Clinton, a woman, and inevitable until it was quite late. Then it was 3:00AM phone calls and faux sniper attacks and John McSame is the only other credible candidate. Rotten arguments to make against the leading candidate of your own Party, tends to kind of tick-off some people who might have been in your camp, otherwise.

Some people seem to be surprised that things have worked out this way, but both George II and Hillary's previous behaviors point directly at these outcomes. If someone could point out an example of something different in GWB's previous careers, taking of responsibility and long term strategic thinking I'd think they weren't looking carefully.

Hillary is a tad bit more complex, some things are pretty well buried, and not by her partisans. The actual realities of Whitewater, Travel Office, and Health Care debacles are there to be inspected, the problem is separating out the chafe thrown by her enemies. The finger prints of short term thinking and autocratic infallibility are all over them. There is a tomorrow, things that are outgrowths or continuations of today's actions. Someone will run as the Democratic nominee against John McSame, and that is the one that is for all the marbles. It is true that you don't get to play the big game if you lose the play offs, but you don't bomb the auditorium either. There were a whole lot of states the didn't vote on or before February 5th, they counted and should have been planned for, and weren't.

What could possibly go wrong? Damned near everything if you don't look at things with a clear mind and plan for the chain of events to not match your desires. Both of them have earned their lumps, I'm just not sure that the rest of us have.