Do Americans trust the White House?

I don’t trust the government, I certainly don’t trust President Bush

A few days ago a lot of noise was made about the White House influence on General Petraeus and the report that is supposed to determine our future in Iraq. Only a few months ago, the President insisted that Democrats allow the troops to do their jobs and that Washington should not have a say in military strategy.

What changed? Why did the President visit General Petraeus?

Despite all of the rhetoric, President Bush and his administration are becoming more involved in shaping the discussion that is happening in the public opinion arena. The Bush administration leaked reports to the media to ’soften’ blows from a report by the GAO recently. For example, the Government Accountability Office originally prepared a report that concluded only 3 of 18 benchmarks were met that were supposed to show whether or not progress was made in Iraq. Since then, however, the report evolved and now concludes that 7 of 18 objectives were achieved.

While the report that was released this afternoon is still bad, the fact that the President is weighing in on the subject is a serious problem. We already know that the President and his administration is willing to lie to achieve certain political goals. The Iraq War was entirely supported by misleading or untrue evidence. Alberto Gonzales ‘openness’ with Congress was anything but honest, if you had the pleasure of watching the Senate judiciary inquiries, it is much easier to conclude that he was lying through his teeth. The reason all of these other lies matter, is because the President has asked us to trust General Petraeus. Despite all of the evidence that suggests Iraq is a government failure, the President somehow managed to buy himself another chance and has already shielded himself behind the General in case Iraq fails, as most experts predict.

Why should Americans trust the government? Why should Americans trust President Bush? This report that is supposed to come from General Petraeus will be written by the President’s staff. Conclusions will be buried in political rhetoric and disingenuous assertions and we will be back where we were three months ago.

If Democrats can’t force the President to change his will, perhaps the people will?

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
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