Bush learns that "values" aren't just a campaign gimmick

The same President who once used the word "crusade" to describe America's war on terror, and who still claims that the Iraq fiasco is somehow part of the war on terror, is worried by the "broader message" that the failure of the White House's Dubai Ports World deal sends to moderate Arab nations. [CNN] In a similar vein, Washington's Post writer David Ignatius laments "America's traumatized post-Sept. 11 politics." [Washington Post]

But anyone who thinks this is about race, religion, or national origin is deeply mistaken. While racism certainly still exists in our society, it doesn't explain why eighty-three percent of the country opposed the DP World deal. The message Congress really sent by blocking the DP World deal is that most of us don't think the way the Bush crowd does: for a vast majority of Americans, money doesn't trump every other value we have.

We don't think that marginal economic efficiencies should trump national security concerns. We don't turn a blind eye to the U.A.E.'s ties to terrorism just because the non-democratic country's state-owned companies have had extensive business dealings with some American companies during the last decade. And in light of the security questions, we can't understand why the White House made a secret agreement with DP World, which would have released the company from routine obligations such as maintaining business records on U.S. soil.

If the President is just now realizing that "values" are not merely a campaign gimmick, his final two years in office are going to be long ones.

(For more information on Portgate, see yesterday's post Portgate by the numbers).