Bush strikes stormy waters as voters lash sale of ports to Arabs

THE torrent of criticism has been extraordinary. For most of the week, on virtually every radio station, Americans have heaped scorn on the Bush Administration.
Conservative radio shock-jocks have talked about organising demonstrations outside the White House. And on the ubiquitous cable television networks, even Fox News, the outpouring of alarm has not let up - indeed, it only increased after a shaken George Bush told Americans they had nothing to worry about.
Picture a potent mix of latent anti-Arab sentiment in America, growing concern the Bush Administration is dysfunctional and politically inept, and a sense that Mr Bush can no longer be trusted with national security. That is behind the furore over the approval of the takeover by an Arab company of terminals at six US ports.
The takeover of the British-owned P&O company by Dubai Ports World, based in the United Arab Emirates, was thoroughly vetted by the Homeland Security officials and the Pentagon. But in this politically hysterical environment, it does not matter.
Mr Bush and his spokesmen can repeat forever that the United Arab Emirates is an ally in the "war on terror" and that to block the takeover would send a terrible signal to the Arab world.
No one is listening, not most Americans and certainly not Democrats who have played on anti-Arab sentiment to attack Mr Bush on their party's greatest vulnerability and until now Mr Bush's greatest strength: keeping America safe from terrorists.
But most telling for the Administration is that congressional Republicans have been even more scathing in their criticism than the Democrats. When a Bush supporter such as the congresswoman Sue Myrick can send Mr Bush a one-sentence letter saying, "In regards to selling American ports to the United Arab Emirates, not just no, but HELL NO!", the Administration is in terrible political trouble.
Hillary Clinton led the charge for the Democrats, saying the approval was "a failure of judgement". Senator Clinton said the decision was taken without "alerting the President that several of our critical ports would be turned over to a foreign country" - a point that in the end might hurt Mr Bush the most.
The suggestion that Mr Bush does not know what is going on, that he is shielded by his minders and that key decisions on security, the fight against terrorism and the war in Iraq have been left to the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is probably untrue.
But perceptions matter. In the past week a report by a Republican congressional committee concluded that Mr Bush, who was on holiday at his Texas ranch, was not told for more than 24 hours that New Orleans had been flooded after Hurricane Katrina. He was not told Mr Cheney had shot a hunting partner for hours after the shooting. And on the takeover of US ports, Mr Bush had to admit he read about it in the press after leading Republicans expressed outrage about the deal and said they would legislate to stop it. As Lindsay Graham, a close Bush supporter in the Senate put it, the Administration has become "incredibly tone deaf".

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