March 9, 2006
Let's say you're running the Country. Right away, you've got about 30% of the country that hates you because they were raised to believe that there actually is a way to solve any problem without using supreme force, and to win the War on Terror, your have to use lots and lots of supreme force.
Now let's say that another 30% (made up of the same 30% mentioned above) don't like you because you're, well, you. No apologies, they just don't like you for whatever reason. Added to this, let's say that these guys have influence over all but one or two of the major print aparatcheks and also have most of the commonly watched video news outlets firmly in their court.
Finally, let's say that almost ALL polls are inefficient. Always. In fact, let's pretend we're all English Nobel Prize Winning Mathematicians and we all recognize that game theory, in fact, IS acted upon and influenced by chaos theory. That means polls aren't very accurate. Ever. Let's also say, for the hell of it, that the poll takers all have different agendae.
You and you, alone, are the President of the United States.
Now comes this itty bitty country who, during the last administration was a royal pain in the butt. They're even one of the countries which had 9/11 bombers - 2 of them - as natives. Since 9/11, though, they've cleaned up their act, and, recognizing their tenuous position in the world and their own region, have been acting as if they are our best friends. Understanding, too, that no political alliance is permanent, four years and some change as friends is a good start.
It's a lot like the bad student who wakes up at the beginning of the semester and decides to be good and it's now time for the final exam.
You, as President, know that Don Corleone kept his enemies closer than his friends. But you also know, as Miss Dove did, that the bad - now good - student needs a boost for morale and to cement the reward that being good should affirm.
This, in a nutshell, is W's problem with the Dubai bidnez.
Now, we, in the Palmetto State know all there is to know about Bidnez. We've been doing bidnez with the Middle East ever since our boys, under the growing Stars and Stripes, kicked the crap out of the Arabian Pirates on the Shores of Tripoli. And we, as a state, do more bidnez with the Middle East, per capita, than any other state in the union. Oddly enough, that includes Dubai (the capital of the United Arab Emirates or UEA.)
Now, I am not a spokesman for Islam. But I am very much a spokesman for open trade for our State around the globe. That includes Dubai.
And WHAT ABOUT security? We handle tons and tons and tons of stuff every week from there or near there, and a lot of it isn't even sniffed at. Why? Because our Dubai friends have already checked it, and we've checked it while it's still there.
I'm not saying this is much ado about nothing. I'm saying this is much ado about something that's already being taken care of. Sorry to let the cat out of the back, W, but Dubai doesn't have a clue how closely we watch and recheck and recheck EVERYTHING they and other Middle Eastern countries do.
How do I know this? Well, I could tell you, (altogether, now) but, then, I'd have to kill you. Most of you know me by now, though, and if you do, you know I have the contacts to verify this. And besides, don't you watch 24 on your local Fox station?
But we were talking about you being President.
What are you going to to do? Are you going to throw away an imperfectly good relationship with a close, current ally? Or, are you going to make even more constituents angry because they've only been told half the story, and frankly don't care if the story is true. They already think the economy isn't what it should be, even though we are richer, as a nation than we have ever been.
But this is YOU, now, not W. What will YOU do? Or better still: what would you do different?
Of course, now that Dubai has withdrawn the bid, it's all moot.
Dick Anderson
