I can only imagine what the powers that be in the Bush administration will do in the next 6 months in anticipation/fear of losing power to a DEM administration.
I imagine we will see:
A lot of petro-based no bid contracts.
As many controversial Presidential EOs that Obama must lift (landmines, really).
Controversial pardons? (I doubt any as dirty as Marc Rich, but certainly some doozies. Think Libby gets the full pardon?). Gitmo/CIA pardons seem a given.
Am I missing anything big? Congress can stop much of his action, but there is a lot of Executive power.
(I doubt he will attack Iran, but see that as an outside possibility).
I wouldn’t be surprised if he issues a preemptive pardon to everyone of importance in his administration, including himself. The latter would be pretty controversial.
There’s at least one benefit to blanket pardons; everyone so pardoned loses their right to invoke the 5th Amendment. This means that Bush & co could wind up being forced to testify before grand juries and congressional comittees about everything they did for years to come. Congress could also strip Bush of his pension, SS protection, precedence, diplomatic passport, etc.
I’d like to think that they would all be satisfied with their “accomplishments” to date and simply run out the clock, but they have seldom showed restraint in the past.
He’ll be busy. There are a lot of terror threats to announce between now and November. Maybe an Osama Bin Laden report the intellignece guys have been working on around the clock and just completed. Perhaps a new operation in Afghanistan to find him, Operation This Time We Mean It.
Obama’s victory is hardly a lock. I think Bush is going to try to stay quiet until November. After that, it’ll depend on who won.
I don’t see the sense of that. I’m not sure what possible EO’s you’re thinking about but most of them would just give Obama (assuming he wins) a easy bump in his first days - he can score points by abolishing them and make it a symbol of how he’s putting his stamp on the country and restoring America after the Bush years.
I think rather than constantly looking at page one above the fold, one should be looking at the back pages not only right now, but going back six to twelve months as well. The real damage will not be from the low hanging fruit stories the media feeds us. Instead, look at the stories behind the doors and cobwebs, if they are there at all. It will be those changes in the way government is administered and managed that will have the greatest, long-term impact.
For example, a change in administrations calls for a “data snapshot” with every federal agency, with the results going into the National Archives. Not this time. There will be no “data snapshot.” So instead of tidying up the office, files in order, and the desk neatly arranged with sharpened pencils, a clean pad of paper in the center of the desk and a simple set of instructions of where to find things awaiting the replacement, the new administration is going to find the office with the furniture broken and overturned, the file cabinet empty and a faint odor of burned paper in the air.
I wonder if Bush really is counting down his time remaining in office at this point…and looking forward to being off the hot seat all the time. If I were him (well, besides being smarter and more handsome I’d be the first Hispanic President!) I would be looking at things like someone coming up for retirement looks at counting down the last days until they are free to do something else. Maybe setting up book deals so he can tell it his way (with a ghost writer of course), speaking tours (ok, maybe not) and other such ex-Presidential activities. I think I’d give a hearty FUCK YOU! to the American people and retire to my ranch to chase the wife around, swill some homebrew, ride my horses and generally spend all of my money on doing fun things that wouldn’t take me to Europe where I might have a bag thrown over my head to wake up in a cold and damp French prison cell being gently asked questions for my up and coming war crimes trial…
I’m sure even W understands he would have zero public support for a full-on war. The most he could do on his own authority would be an airstrike, which would likely stir up something too hot to handle, which his successor would have to deal with. It would be the equivalent of Saddam Hussein setting fire to the Kuwaiti oil wells before pulling out his troops, just from pure spite.
I imagine that he’ll run out the clock, as so many have said. I doubt that attacking Iran will happen. For what it’s worth, I think that he and his buddies know full well what a cock up they’ve made of things and the last-minute pardons are already being prepared.
That said, though, I thought that retiring presidents no longer got Secret Service protection. Am I misremembering?
This means that Bush & co could wind up being forced to testify before grand juries and congressional comittees about everything they did for years to come. Congress could also strip Bush of his pension, SS protection, precedence, diplomatic passport, etc.