Why Yes, I'll Have a Port

...or Coming of Age in the White House

Bush is right. The port issue was well vetted. The sale of US port management contracts is bad because it appears to be bad, not because it is. From the New York Times:

In the political collision between the White House and Congress over the $6.8 billion deal that would give a Dubai company management of six American ports, most experts seem to agree on only one major point: The gaping holes in security at American ports have little to do with the nationality of who is running them.

The deal would transfer the leases for ports in New York, Baltimore and Miami, among others, from a British-owned company to one controlled by the government of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates. But the security of the ports is still the responsibility of Coast Guard and Customs officials. Foreign management of American ports is nothing new, as the role already played by companies from China, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and trading partners in Europe attests.

While critics of the deal have raised the specter that it might open the way to the "infiltration" of American ports by terrorists from the Middle East, the Dubai company would in most cases inherit a work force that is mainly American, with hiring subject to the same regulations as under the current British management.

Among the many problems at American ports, said Stephen E. Flynn, a retired Coast Guard commander who is an expert on port security at the Council on Foreign Relations, "who owns the management contract ranks near the very bottom."

The real question: What's going on at the White House political office? Or the communications office? Does anyone have their eye on the ball here? I'm what we like to call a "communications professional" (in other words, a 'PR guy')... but it doesn't take a trained professional: Of course this was going to be a political firestorm. Does Bush, with no need to stand for re-election, no longer care how he looks to allies or opponents? What happened to the famous discipline of the Bush White House? Who's minding the store 'round those parts?

If there's anything worrisome about the Bush White House these days -- and there is a lot -- it's their growing apathy toward the rest of government -- and by extension, the rest of the country -- all on our behalf.

They make me feel like a teenager, fighting for a say: I'm not a kid anymore, Mister President!