Newt Gingrich

I have this strange fascination with Newt. He is, I believe, one of the more intelligent people I've ever met. But even better than his intelligence is his understanding of how to use language.

I met Newt at a small, private reception in Austin hosted by Fleischman-Hillard. Now I'm not sure there are many issues on which Newt and I might find common ground. But at the Austin gathering, he framed all of his policy priorities using language which made me believe that I agreed with him on everything. Remarkably, I think I was one of two Democrats in the room so this would have been an audience that would have responded well to some Republican red meat.

Gingrich was on Meet the Press this last Sunday. Here is what he said about the war in Iraq.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me start with Iraq, on the minds of all Americans, and show them what you said a few weeks ago up in New Hampshire. “Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told a New Hampshire audience that unless the Bush administration admits that the war in Iraq is a ‘failure,’ it will never develop a strategy to leave the country successfully.” Why is the war a failure?

FMR. REP. GINGRICH: Well, the war’s a failure in part because the strategy, as I told you on this show in December of ‘03, has been wrong consistently, it’s been a strategy that was far too American. Second, it’s a, it’s a failure because the instruments of national power don’t work. And it’s important to understand we all focus on Maliki’s government. The, the Baker-Hamilton Commission reports that out of 1,000 people in the American Embassy, 33 speak Arabic, eight of them fluently. Now, at some point we have to have a national conversation about the fact that, outside of the uniform military, none of the instruments of national power work, and they need to be fundamentally overhauled. This isn’t about policy. It’s as though you wanted to go to Boston, I wanted to go to Los Angeles, and the car standing outside was broken. Doesn’t matter what our policy agreement is, the car doesn’t run.

That from Newt Gingrich! It is sad how far this President has fallen.

The problem we Americans all face at this point is that there really aren't any options in Iraq. No matter which path we choose to follow, we will still have a leader in the oval office who is completely incapable of any kind of management or leadership. Remember in 2000 how Bush bragged about having an MBA and what great skills he would bring to the Oval Office because of his MBA? Clearly they don't teach leadership or management skills in business school.

So, what should we do. 1. Secure Baghdad. If that means more troops on a temporary basis then that means more troops. 2. Give every unemployed Iraqi a job that pays well rebuilding the country. (An idea Gingrich talks about with Russert.) 3. Pay off warlords to hand us the terrorists.

Will it work? I don't know. But I would imagine if we are employing virtually every Iraqi and paying off the warlords and we become the gravy train for these folks it will become very easy to get people to turn against the terrorists. And that helps us with security. And the more secure the country the easier to build an economy.