Sunday, February 29, 2004
60 Minutes With the issue of the 9/11 Commission's extension out of the way, attention this week will shift to the executive branch--specifically the ground rules set by the Bush camp for the President's testimony. Thus far, the White House has insisted that only the commission's two senior members meet with Bush, and that the session last no longer than an hour.
Why would a president who has made defending the United States from terrorists the central, defining mission of his presidency want to cooperate only grudgingly with a commission created, in no small part, to shore up our national security?
It's a question members of the White House press corps are beginning to ask.
And the answers from the White House, when they've been coherent, have been less than satisfying.
One argument we've yet to hear, however, is that the President is simply too busy to spend more than an hour with the commissioners.
Then again, it's not hard to see why the Bushies are steering clear of that claim.
