George Bush’s Dilemma Today the American people spoke; they sent a clear and unmistakable message to George Bush and his gang, they said NO to his Iraq war.

When I hear from and read from some of the Arab people and specially the Egyptians, that the American people are stupid, or that they are not politically savvy, or that they are only interested in their pocket book, or they do not care about anything outside the US, or that many can not find Egypt on a map. It makes me wonder on what planet those people live. I tell them these stereotype comments is identical to some one saying that every Arab or Muslim is a terrorist, that the American people can not be stupid; if they could become the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth, that there may be some Americans who can not find Egypt on a map, but how many Egyptians who never saw a map in their life, I tell them they do not always vote their pocket book, that the economy in the US today is in the strongest shape it has been during the last six years since Bush took office, the unemployment is the lowest that I can remember, the personal income is the highest in many years, the market is at a peak, people who are not happy with the Economy are about 17% which is the lowest I have ever seen in the past 35 years, and based on this they should have voted more Republicans in and Democrats out if their pocket book was the main concern, but they did the opposite, they voted many Republicans out, even some of the ones they liked and voted them in many times before, and that was for one reason, and one reason only, that they supported the Iraq war, and George Bush.

Come January, when the new congress convene, it will be very interesting to watch the political arena in Washington, to see history in the making, as Nancy Pelosi, the first Woman to take the speaker of the house seat, a Liberal Democrat from San Francisco, to see how the Bush administration will deal with her and with her fellow majority; the Democrats. She said, they will not pursue an impeachment for the president, I personally take her at her word, but in politics, many promises are broken and could always be justified, and explained. What I look for is not the impeachment, even though I would not mind see him impeached, but what I look for is an investigation in the war on Iraq, and what lead to that and how the Bush administration manipulated the data to justify that.

The Democrats, while in the minority, could not have any meaningful hearing, because the Republicans blocked them, but there are many in the Democrats old guard who smell blood and they are going to go at it like sharks, many of them are genuinely interested in finding the truth, so are many millions of the American people, whose vote today was influenced by that issue, they see what is happening in Iraq, and they feel guilty about it, they feel that the death of their sons and daughters , husbands and wives there is caused by the misleading information provided by Bush and Cheney, they see the destruction and chaos of a country, the daily death of hundreds of it’s people, and they feel responsible for that, they feel they were totally wrong when after 9/11 they bought Bush’s argument that Iraq was somehow involved, and the WMD was an issue that threaten their very existence and safety. Many people who will not admit that guilt publicly, speak about privately, the American people are as human as any other nation on the face of the earth.

One of the things to look forward to see, are these hearings that will without a doubt be conducted, and depending on what they uncover, may or may not revive the impeachment issue. Rumsfeld is as good as gone, he will be the first one to go in the few weeks to come ( **), and may even happen before January. Bush is trying to find a way out, and despite the fact that he insists that the war was the right thing to do, he admits that it is not going well for the US or for the Iraqis. This loss may provide him with a cover to overhaul the entire strategy of this war. By doing this he may gain some favor on the Democratic side to not allow the issue of impeachment if it ever comes up.

If this scenario is to take place, there is also a chance, slim as it may be, that Cheney may leave the scene, perhaps with a health problem as an excuse. Bush wants to make sure that his legacy is not jeopardized by a total defeat in a war that he could not win, so he will try to find a face saving solution to end it.

On the other hand, Bush may act in a totally different manner, he may challenge the Democrats and to try to force his agenda for the last two years of his presidency, relying mostly on his veto power that may be too difficult for the Democrats to overcome as it requires two thirds of the congress to override, and with this strategy he and the Republicans can call the Democrats a do nothing congress, the government goes in a gridlock and nothing gets done for the American people, all this will be in preparation for the 2008 presidential election to help elect a Republican president and congress.

The first few weeks of January will tell which direction this government is going.

Nancy Pelosi is also going to be under a tremendous pressure, by a double jeopardy, on one hand she, as any newly elected person for the second most powerful job in the US, would want to succeed, but also she has a great responsibility being the first elected woman to that job to make sure that the history will not judge her in a negative way, or that may erase some of women’s gains in that field. So the one million dollar question is, will her Democrats help her succeed or will they be poised for politics as usual, and every one to his own. Not to mention that she may very well wants to run for the president of the US in 2008 and be not only the first woman speaker but president as well, although this may be rather difficult.

(**) I wrote this while the election process was still going and around the midnight, when it was known that the Demos won the house, the first thing the following morning, was Rumsfeld resignation.