Something amazing happened Friday when President Bush challenged Congress to stop fiddling around and pass FISA reform legislation so that Americans don’t have to be so vulnerable to another devastating terrorist attack here at home.
Bush added that he would veto any bill that didn’t get approval from Vice Admiral Mike McConnell, National Director of Intelligence, and the president challenged the Senate and House to stay in town until they passed such a bill instead of leaving Friday evening for their August recess.
The bill passed Friday.
Sure, it’s only a temporary measure, but odds are good that our intelligence community – being newly empowered to listen to international telephone conversations coming through fiber optic cable in this country – will glean more than enough valuable information in the next few months to more than justify making the law permanent.
There is a lesson here that is best illustrated by imagining the following scenarios:
* What if in 2001 – instead of caving on vouchers for inner city kids the first instant Teddy Kennedy objected – President Bush had gone to the school house door of the worst public school in Harlem and there challenged Congress “to give these kids a real chance to learn before it’s too late ,” then every week thereafter gone to an inner city school to repeat the challenge, make the case for vouchers, respond to critics, etc.?
* What if in 2003 – instead of creating yet another new entitlement program – President Bush had gone to the emergency room of a big-city hospital and challenged Congress to “give every American family and single adult a health care insurance tax credit,” then gone to another big city hospital emergency room every week thereafter to repeat the challenge, make his case and respond to critics?
* What if in 2005 – instead of going through the motions of proposing Social Security reform – President Bush had secured a five minute spot on American Idol to challenge Congress to stop passing the buck to the next generation and approve a bill to let every person invest a percentage of their Social Security taxes in a private investment plan?
Politics
Democrats
GOP
Conservatives
Liberals
Congress
Just a thought.
