It's Sad When They Get What They Wish For

Bush and his advisers were hoping a trip to Jordan would distract media attention from the Baker report due out from the Iraq Study Group. They got their wish but not in the way they intended. Here's the story from Dan Froomkin of White House Briefing:

Mike Allen writes for Time that White House aides are delighted that the U.S. television networks are sending their news anchors to Amman, "ensuring massive coverage of an event that the White House has said is unlikely to produce any major announcement or development."

Why? Because the White House is simply happy to have Bush in the spotlight -- rather than James Baker, whose bipartisan Iraq Study Group has been garnering so much attention in Washington these past weeks.

The Maliki no-show debacle on Wednesday unfortunately did nothing more than highlight a presidency in disarray. I would laugh but the Bush presidency has become the bitterest of tragedies. And the price for this theater is steep. The senior Bush is King Lear. And junior is the reckless and ambitious Edmund. I prefer watching Shakespeare, though, rather than the Bush tragedy that has become so laced with farce.