NP: The Cult, Pure Cult: The Singles 1984-1995 (MP3)

I'm pretty sure I've touched on this before, but with the current furor over the actual cost of the Medicare bill passed last year, and whether or not the administration knew of the higher cost well in advance of the vote in Congress, a distinct pattern seems to be emerging in the White House.

First and foremost, obviously, is the war on Iraq. As I've said before, there was always at least some case to be made for military action, but Bush and Cheney pressed the issue's hottest button, the imminent threat. Except, of course, there was no imminent threat, and there is now a mountain of evidence, or lack thereof, to show that. Rather than actually convince anyone that it was a good idea, the White House simply took the most compelling reason out of a vacuum and gathered as much flimsy and circumstantial proof (the "we can't find weapons, so they must be hiding them" case being the very definition of circumstantial) to support their argument.

Now we've got Medicare, and it's exactly the same deal. Reform seems like a reasonable idea to most people, despite opposition to elements of the plan. Welfare reform faced those same hurdles. But the biggest issue in passing the legislation, even among -- or perhaps especially among -- Republicans, was the cost. So, true to form, the advertised cost became low, and palatable, despite warnings that the estimates were inaccurate.

This is executive-style politics at it's worst. I've worked for people, particularly within marketing research, who make their mind up about a problem first, then analyze the data later. If you feel strongly enough about your forgone conclusion, you discount contrary evidence and sift out the stuff that makes you look smart. It certainly can work, and if it does, you get this false sense of vindication from completing a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Compounding the problem is Bush's CEO-style drive for a quick impact on the bottom line. There's a less offensive version of looking hard at the data to find what you need, which is when you work the problem over more thoroughly than it perhaps deserves, but ultimately find your needle in the haystack. This isn't it, and all we're getting is politcal hay.