March 17, 2003

TOO DUMB TO BE (A BAD) PRESIDENT

Stocks rally as war nears (CNN/MONEY)
The United States, backed by Britain and Spain, on Monday ended diplomatic efforts to disarm Iraq and this led to a stock market rally as the uncertainty that has plagued Wall Street for months seemed to finally lift.
American Public Opinion About Iraq (Gallup Poll).
Americans increasingly support the concept of U.S. involvement in war against Iraq, and the public has generally become more critical of the United Nations and countries like France, Germany, and Russia that have attempted to slow down the move toward military action.

Gallup's latest poll shows 64% support for U.S. involvement in a war against Iraq -- an increase of five points over the last two weeks.

I find these two stories just astonishing. The market hates uncertainty, it hates turmoil, it hates anything that threatens to destabilize the middle east. It is rallying this morning. In the last few weeks, "millions" have marched for peace, the tv news and newspapers hve been full of criticism of the administration, which has "blown" the diplomacy and ruined our standing in the world. Even some supporters of the war have complained that all the dithering was sapping our resolve. More Americans now support the war than did before the Left started to make such fools of themselves. Maybe we're just going to have to live with the idea that the President knows what he's doing. Posted by David Cohen at March 17, 2003 11:51 AM
Comments

And with the idea that the American people know what *they're* doing too. I wonder if it's occurred to the anti-war types that their tactics, either vicious -- "Bush = Hitler" signs -- or vacuous -- nudie protests -- have turned off more Americans than they've convinced.

Posted by: PatrickH at March 17, 2003 12:29 PM

Maybe. But they don't care.



To them, it's not about making a concrete difference in the world. It's about being one of the annointed. Thomas Sowell wrote a whole book about this--appropriately sub-titled "Selfcongradulation as the basis for social policy."

Posted by: fred at March 17, 2003 2:27 PM

Another brilliant side effect of the UN delay has been the peace movement's early start. They've had ample time to lose steam. They've had ample time to show their true colors. Did Bush plan it this way too? How much of a genius is this "moron?"

Posted by: NKR at March 17, 2003 2:40 PM

Supporting the war: the right thing.



Buying into this rally: the wrong thing.



It feels good, but this bear has a way to go.

Posted by: Robert D at March 17, 2003 5:19 PM
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