Troubled by falling approval ratings and relentless criticism about the conduct of the war in Iraq, President Bush took his case to America Sunday with a taped appearance on “Meet the Press.”

Almost immediately, the president was on the defensive.

On the war, job losses and the fruitless hunt for weapons of mass destruction, Bush was intractable and immovable. One of the traits the president’s supporters love most is his self-confidence, the swagger that develops when you know you’re right.

And it’s that same swagger that drives Bush’s critics crazy.

He has no doubts. And when there is evidence to the contrary, he simply disregards it or explains it away. Pay no attention to the 2.3 million jobs that have disappeared, to the deficit or the ballooning national debt. The economy is doing great. The weapons of mass destruction will appear, they’re there somewhere, and if they’re not, it doesn’t matter anyway. Saddam Hussein was a bad man, we can all agree on that. Right?

Going one-on-one with Tim Russert and his diabolical charts is no simple task, even with the home-court advantage of taping the interview in the Oval Office. But the president’s performance didn’t inspire confidence. It only displayed his own surety.

But the most troubling aspect of the interview was the apparent decrease in the threshold for taking this country to war. “I believe it is essential that when we see a threat, we deal with those threats before they become imminent. It’s too late if they become imminent. It’s too late in this new kind of war, and so that’s why I made the decision I made,” Bush said.

The president’s policy of pre-emption was based on the idea that we could accurately identify a rising danger. The missing WMDs threaten that premise. Are we, as a country, prepared to lower the bar even further in the face of this failure?

The entire country is asking how the United States found itself the occupier in a hostile, foreign land. We were hoping for answers Sunday. We were hoping for the facts to back up the president’s decisions. We didn’t get them.


As Maine goes


The race is over, at least here. Sen. John Kerry handily defeated all comers Sunday in Maine’s caucuses, despite rousing appearances by former Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Known for supporting wild cards and underdogs, Maine gave Kucinich his best showing so far, but it wasn’t enough to break out of third place. And Dean showed that his supporters remain loyal, if outvoted, coming in second.

Primaries today in Virginia and Tennessee could finish off the candidacy of Sen. John Edwards or retired Gen. Wesley Clark, even if they officially stay in the race.

The nominating process was designed to crown an early front-runner and move everyone else out of the way. Unless something amazing happens, it’s going to work out just like that.

That’s too bad. Every state deserves the opportunity to cast a meaningful ballot and to engage the candidates in a debate.

On that score, Maine was lucky.
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