The Libby lesson for Iraq

From the Los Angeles Times
RONALD BROWNSTEIN

If President Bush disregards critics on pardoning Scooter, why would you think he'll budge on his war strategy?

July 4, 2007HIS APPROVAL rating has cratered. His legislative agenda, after the collapse of immigration reform, is in ruins. So many longtime aides have departed that he may need name tags for Oval Office meetings. And yet with his decision to spare I. Lewis Libby from prison, President Bush sent his critics a clear signal that he will not concede an inch of ground that they lack the strength and determination to take from him.

Commuting Libby's sentence fits within a flurry of recent administration decisions that directly confront the president's opponents. Bush is defying subpoenas for documents and testimony from the House and Senate Judiciary committees. He's drawn a line in the sand (box) against Democratic proposals to provide health insurance for millions more children in working-poor families. His vice president recently claimed to have discovered, Atlantis-like, a previously uncharted fourth branch of government with himself as the sole known resident.

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