Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Decider 2: Presidential Boogaloo

George Bush --

I'm the commander guy

UPDATE: Here's the full context for the quote, which came in a Q&A session following a speech to the Associated General Contractors of America --

By the way, in the report[Baker-Hamilton] it said, it is -- the government may have to put in more troops to be able to get to that position. And that's what we do. We put in more troops to get to a position where we can be in some other place. The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear -- I'm the commander guy.

Incidentally, he is now referring to the Baker-Hamilton report as having recommendations that could be usefully considered -- 5 months after it was presented to him.

UPDATE 5 MAY: The White House now claims that Bush said "I'm a commander guy", not "I'm the commander guy", which in the fuller context above meant that he lets the commanders make the decisions, not congress. The audio file (see the 53rd minute) confirms that he used the indefinite article. Of course, "commander guy" sacked his 2006 vintage commanders (Abizaid and Casey) when they were out of line with the new strategy that he wanted.

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