Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Channelling Friedman

At Betsy's Page, the eponymous proprietess links to an article at NRO which argues that Bush's first hundred days have been going pretty swimmingly. The NRO article concludes that Bush is a thoroughbred that's already winning the race. In the comments, Carol contends that Bush is actually a pitcher just getting going in the third inning.

I'd agree that Bush is a thoroughbred, only he's one that's defending against Shaq. When you guard Shaq, you play him hard for the first two and half quarters, and then by the third or fourth quarter, he starts tiring out, and you start pulling ahead. That's what Bush is doing: with Iraq and Social Security, he's throwing and taking a lot of hard fouls in the hopes that the opponent tires out and he can start pulling ahead when things go down the final stretch. That's what thoroughbreds do: they guard Shaq close and then grab the checkered flag. Whether Bush will foul out, or ride the nurse shark of progress remains to be seen, but I think that's the strategy.