Opinionator-in-Chief

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post

One of the perks of being president--a Republican president, at least--is that, besides a nice white mansion with a chef and your very own armed forces, you get to write for the Wall Street Journal op-ed page.

So the incumbent published such a piece yesterday and, when the ink was barely dry, held a Cabinet meeting and came out to the microphones and repeated the points he had made in the paper. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how a media rollout is done.

And what issue has the president decided to put his muscle behind? Let's examine the words of George W. Bush:

"One important message I took away from the election is that people want to end the secretive process by which Washington insiders are able to slip into legislation billions of dollars of pork-barrel projects that have never been reviewed or voted on by Congress. I'm glad Senator Robert Byrd and Congressman Dave Obey--the Democrats who will lead the appropriations process in the new Congress--heard that message, too, and have indicated they will refrain from including additional earmarks in the continuing resolution for this fiscal year.

"But we can and should do more. It's time Congress give the president a line-item veto. And today I will announce my own proposal to end this dead-of-the-night process and substantially cut the earmarks passed each year."

Let me get this straight. After six years of a Republican Congress earmarking truckloads of pork for home districts, much of it for Bridge-to-Nowhere projects, Bush has suddenly decided--the day before the Democrats take control--that earmarking is an outrage?

(The rest is here.)