A day late and a dollar short?

Posted By Katie Hunter Monday, August 11, 2008 - 6:39 PM Share

Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Bush just wrapped up a four-day stay in Beijing, where he caught plenty of action from the sidelines (and on the volleyball courts). Avid sports fan that he is, Bush clearly enjoyed himself, spending his final day in China cheering on the U.S. men's swimming team as they clenched victory in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.

I guess Bush's decision to opt for an extended Olympic vacation in the midst of Georgia's crisis shouldn't come as a shock. After all, he does have a history of notoriously slow reactions to catastrophic events (Hurricane Katrina, anyone?). Still, you'd think the prez would have wanted to at least appear to be in crisis mode by returning to his home office ASAP. Georgians certainly must feel that way.

Bush hasn't completely ignored the conflict: He reportedly got round-the-clock coverage from aides in Beijing. And he did make a few increasingly tough statements briefly before returning to Washington and speaking on it this evening, saying, "The Russian government must reverse the course it appears to be on."

But the fact that he devoted much of his past few days to Kobe Bryant's jump shot, Misty May-Treanor's fanny, and Michael Phelps's medal hopes rather than Georgia's plight makes his words ring a little hollow this evening.

EXPLORE:CAUCASUS, BUSH ADMINISTRATION, GEORGIA, OLYMPICS, RUSSIA, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

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MCCLURE77

7:44 AM ET

August 12, 2008

It's true that Bush seems

It's true that Bush seems callous for not returning to DC when this war broke out. On the other hand, it seems quite possible that Russia planned this invasion to coincide with the beginning of the Olympics - the US military says it was surprised by how fast and organized the attack was, suggesting that it wasn't a spur of the moment decision. If Bush went to Beijing in part to bolster relations with China, which is an important part of a broader strategy of reducing China's isolation from much of the world, it makes at least some sense that he wouldn't allow his plans to be disrupted by Russia's carefully timed actions.

WORLDVIEW

9:51 AM ET

August 12, 2008

In perspective

Although extremely unfortunate, the situation in Georgia remains a local conflict among three neighboring countries who share a border. Ho does that involve the US? The UN is responsible for taking the lead on this one, that's what they're for. It would be extremely arrogant and unprofessional for the President of the US to drop everything he's doing, to mediate a border dispute every time a bunch of nuts wanted to start shooting at each other. Don't we have enough going on with the two wars we're already fighting? Diva Condoleezza has been doing a superb job of handling this crisis and keeping us out of it. If some of those other countries had more women making their political decisions, maybe they wouldn't be in this mess to begin with. My heart goes out to the civilians who got caught up in the irresponsible behavior of their leadership.

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