One of the basic rules of politics is that when your administration is failing domestically, you need to create an enemy.  Since Obama’s policies are deepening the recession, and his Obamacare proposal is going nowhere fast, it’s time for The Distraction.

Up to now, Obama has resisted his party’s call to prosecute Bush and the Republicans in general.  Expect this to end.  We are seeing the beginning of this attack with the recent “revelations” about some unnamed CIA program that was never mentioned to Congress.   The former CIA chief says it was too tiny to mention and never actually took off, so they didn’t bother Congress with it, but the Administration has decided to make a big issue out of it, and blame Cheney and by implication, Bush.

Now, today we are told that Eric Holder may open an inquiry on the Bush administration.  And so it begins.  I expect multiple Congressional and DoJ inquiries, with copious leaks to the state-run media throughout the run-up to the 2010 mid-terms.  And I expect The Distraction to work.

Sarah Palin received some unexpected support from a liberal California political leader for her decision to step down as governor of Alaska.  Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said that Palin “has some of the best political instincts I have ever seen”, and called her decision “a brilliant move”.  According to Brown, as Alaska’s chief executive Palin would have remained isolated from the rest of the country.  Instead, now she is free to study up on issues, campaign for other Republican candidates, and do the radio and TV circuit.