Ben Shapiro, Boy Prognosticator?

Some of you may be confused as to why I call Ben Shapiro a Boy Prognosticator. Way back in December 2002, he wrote an article with the humble little title "I was right, I am right, and I will be right." In it he commented on how his predictions had proven true.

One section dealt with Bush's decision to go to congress. "On Sept. 4, I recommended that President Bush forgo congressional approval for a strike on Iraq. I said that he should address the American people, saying: "I did not want the bureaucrats in Washington to sidetrack a course of action that is clear and moral. And I know that congressional officials would do just that."

The president instead went to the Congress for a resolution authorizing force against Iraq. Congress balked. It effectively forced the president to go through the United Nations; the congressional resolution made U.S. action partially dependent on the whims of the patsies at the United Nations."

Well, today, September 17, 2003, Terrance Jeffrey is expressing a different point of view. "The White House counsel's office told the president last August he didn't need a vote in Congress to launch a war. "In disclosing this week that Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, had told the president that he has the authority he needs to wage a war against Iraq," reported The New York Times, "the White House reopened a debate that has periodically vexed policymakers: Can a president launch a war without explicit congressional approval?"

But Bush brushed aside his lawyers. "At the appropriate time," the president said last Sept. 4, "this administration will go to the Congress to seek approval necessary to deal with the threat."

In October, Congress authorized war. Twenty-nine Democratic senators, including Kerry, voted for the authorization.

Had Bush not sought it, he, not Kerry, might face disaster today. America, not the Democratic Party, would be bitterly divided. Left-wing presidential candidates wouldn't be pointing at their rivals' war votes, they would be pointing with their rivals at the war Bush started without a vote."

So I guess young Ben might have been wrong. Still, as others have pointed out, Kerry's transition does mirror that of many Americans who supported action in Iraq under what they feel are a false set of expectations. When Kerry talks about being deceived by the Bush Administration, some people will be able to relate, sharing those feelings. So it might not turn out to be entirely negative in the long run.