Jonathan Freedland (Guardian Utd): Death will be his witness

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited
Dated Wednesday November 10

Death will be his witness
Bush's hand will be forced at home by Chief Justice Rehnquist's illness and abroad by Arafat's departure
By Jonathan Freedland

It is ghoulish, but two deaths - one at home, the other abroad - are about to reveal the true face of George Bush's second term. The first is the slow death played out in Paris. Yasser Arafat has lingered on the brink for so long, the president delivered a eulogy a full week ago - albeit by accident. At Bush's first post-election press conference, a reporter broke the premature news that the Palestinian leader had died. "My first reaction is, God bless his soul," said a grim-faced president, in the manner of a hanging judge sending a convicted man to the gallows: May the Lord have mercy upon your soul. About the man, he added not a word more.

So we know in advance the president's immediate reaction to Arafat's demise. The more important question is: what will Bush do next? Will Arafat's exit prompt him to change course, ending a four-year policy of aloofness towards the Middle East conflict, finally persuading the White House to engage? . . . .

(M)ortality hovers at another door. William Rehnquist, chief justice of the US supreme court, is 80 years old and has been diagnosed with a serious form of thyroid cancer. Most expect his place on the bench will soon become vacant. How will President Bush react to this second intrusion by the brute facts of life and death? The answer will say as much about his domestic agenda as the Arafat episode will reveal of his plans for the world.

Some hope Bush will be magnanimous in victory, making good his promise to be "a uniter not a divider," by nominating a centrist to fill Rehnquist's seat. That may prove too Pollyanna-ish for this president. "He will nominate a pro-life conservative," one Republican senator told me with complete certainty this week. "Millions of Christians worked very hard for his re-election," the senator added. He did not say "and they expect their reward". He didn't have to.

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[Metrix]

1. I read some of this other stuff

I don't trust this guy Freedland.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Why not?

What are the views in his other pieces that you don't like?