Stop and listen, Mr. President. Then ask questions

Tom Beven, the politically savvy exec editor of Real Clear Politics, is generally supportive of the Bush administration.

Today Beven writes about (excerpts):

(the) serious gaffe by the White House (involving) its handling of the deal allowing a company based in the United Arab Emirates to take over the operations at six major U.S. ports.

Approved last week by the obscure Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the deal raises legitimate – though not insurmountable – concerns over whether it is appropriate to outsource American port operations to an Arab-based corporation.

The physical reality of the deal is that very little would change: U.S. longshoremen would still man the operations at the ports, and the U.S. Coast Guard would still be responsible for security.

The political reality of the deal is a different matter altogether, and the Bush administration made a terrible mistake by failing to recognize and to proactively deal with the appearance and the sensitivity surrounding the transaction.

The White House should have had the foresight to brief Governors, Senators, relevant House members and Mayors from all the ports involved to assuage any concerns and also to enlist their support. Instead, those very people - both Republican and Democrat - have come out attacking the deal, leaving the White House on its own defending what now looks like a huge political liability.

Late yesterday President Bush dug in his heels, reiterating support for the port deal and vowing to veto any legislative efforts by Congress to scuttle it. This not only continues to keep the Bush administration on the defensive trying to justify a program to which most Americans have a negative gut reaction, but it also sets up a showdown with Congress that Bush may live to regret.
...

When leaders of your party and politically savvy pundits supporters are saying "Stop," a President ought to himself some questions.

In this case, two should be:

1) Did my staff correctly assess and inform me of the degree of opposition from my political allies to the United Arab Emirates port deal?

2) Do I really want to go forward with the deal now that my party's leaders in both houses of Congress and governors of the states involved oppose it?

The answer to the first question will tell the President a lot about the competence of his staff and the flow of information to his desk.

If the answer to the second question is a "Yes," the President should ask himself another question:

What's my future effectiveness if I head into a veto battle with Jimmy Carter as my best known ally?

Beven's column is here.