I think Charles is being a bit harsh in his judgment and conclusion. Besides the great progress in Afghanistan (even if W didn’t put it in the “Axis of Evil”), Charles forgets or ignores (as almost all pundits and politicians seem to) Libya’s giving up it’s WMD program almost immediately after Sadam’s fall and ultimate capture — a huge victory in the war on terror.
But Charles’ assessment does speak to a few things that unfortunately W has to accept responsibility for: his inability to articulate the vision/rationale and sustain support for the war on terror and to keep our allies engaged; this inability also allowed the Dems to take a vacation from their responsibilities in the WOT. It’s really unfortunate but W’s legacy will be directly tied to whoever follows him into office because that person will either sustain the effort or “declare victory” and give up.
Another failure on W’s part: allowing the State Department, CIA, and other arms of the government to drift into a rogue status, undermining the very necessary WOT. In retrospect, W should have cleared the decks after Bubba departed including dispatching George Tenet and getting some Cheney-like figure in there to take names and kick-*ss. W’s Administration was not timed properly for trying out “compassionate conservatism”.
Rpublicans do not ever “clear the decks.” The best is Reagan simply ignored his State Department and bypassed the CIA. State and the Intel depts. are permanent bastions of the left just as the Universities and government schools are. Republicans are always wimps when it comes to clearing out the non Civil Service part of the bureaucracy when they take office. That is why Republicans’ effectiveness is always “limited.” Democrats clean house as soon as they come in.
This is assuming that the "drift" is of recent origin and development, which assumption isn't necessarily valid. The CIA, and the State Department, as a whole, have been rogue operations, pursuing their own agendas, for as long as I have been alive. People here like to talk about the "Clintonistas" at State, but the true "Clintonistas" were political appointments which were changed in relatively short order. The real damage came from, as it ever has done, by the career "Foggy Bottom" types, who work their anti American venom no matter which party controls the Executive branch, and have done so for over half a century...
the infowarrior