"Bush sought to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by shuttling along the checkpoint-studded roads between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Even as he praised both sides for being willing to compromise, 11 members of the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu Party withdrew from the Israeli government to protest Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's handling of the peace negotiations, and Arab newspapers denounced Bush for refusing to push Israel on Jewish settlements.
"The president sought to unite the region against Iran by stressing that U.S. policy on Tehran had not changed despite a U.S. intelligence report that said Iran's nuclear program was shelved in 2003. Israel disputed the intelligence report and refused to rule out military action, while Saudi Arabia said it has no problems with Iran.
"Bush's lone policy speech promoted human rights reforms and democratization in the Middle East. On Wednesday here, he praised Egypt for helping to lead 'the freedom and justice movement' in the Middle East ? even though the nation has backtracked on reforms in the past few years.
"On oil prices, Bush failed to convince Saudi officials that supplies should be increased to drive down gas prices."
"On Wednesday, after discussions with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Bush commended him for progress. 'You have taken steps toward economic openness . . . and political reforms,' Bush said.
"But Hisham Kassem, an Egyptian political activist who last year received a U.S. National Endowment for Democracy award, was left dispirited by Bush's tour. The year 2005 'was the best year in my life, politically . . . . Our hopes were way up there,' Kassem said. 'But -- it was just another story.'
"Anger grew in his voice. 'Bush, as far as American foreign policy vis-a-vis democracy, civil rights, is right back to square one,' Kassem added. 'This trip marks it.'"
"And yet he avoided public disputes with monarchical leaders widely accused of limiting freedoms as he sought Arab support for the peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, the war in Iraq, diplomatic efforts to isolate Iran and easing the strain on the American economy caused by high oil prices."
"Six days after Bush personally appealed for his support, conservative Israeli lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman abandoned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition government on Wednesday.
"'All negotiations based on territory for peace are a fateful error, an incomprehensible mistake,' Lieberman said Wednesday.
"Wednesday also was the second straight day of stepped-up Israeli military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which began hours after Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators began their first substantive round of peace talks."
Newsweek's Michael Hirsh found it hard to distinguish between Bush and Alysheba, the aging Derby and Preakness winning horse that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia paraded around his farm outside Riyadh.
"Like Bush, Alysheba was the scion of a proud lineage (in the stallion's case, the famed Alydar). And like Bush, the 24-year-old bay was still proud but more than a little broken down--in the horse's case, so far past his prime he looked swaybacked.
"There's one big difference, of course. Alysheba has long since given up on winning (in fact, he's not even used for stud anymore). George W. Bush, with just 12 months to go before he's put out to pasture, still thinks he can win the big ones: a Mideast peace deal, an Iranian surrender on nukes, a functioning Iraqi government."
Iraq Watch
The New York Times editorial board writes: "President Bush is discussing a new agreement with Baghdad that would govern the deployment of American troops in Iraq. With so many Americans adamant about bringing our forces home as soon as possible, a sentiment we strongly share, Mr. Bush must not be allowed to tie the hands of his successor and ensure the country's continued involvement in an open-ended war. . . .
"Mr. Bush is rushing to complete a deal before he leaves office in January 2009. That is just as reckless and irresponsible as most of his decisions regarding Iraq. America's interests demand that his successor has maximum flexibility to plot a course, which we hope includes a quick and orderly withdrawal of troops.
"One way to ensure that flexibility is to make sure that Congress approves any deal with Iraq, as leading Democrats, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, are insisting. The time for Congressional intervention is now."
Stimulus Watch
Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum write in The Washington Post: "A rush by President Bush and Democratic leaders to assemble an economic stimulus package to stave off a recession is being complicated by a potentially debilitating brew of presidential politics, ideological differences and special interest lobbying. . . .
"Republican contenders and GOP leaders are warning the White House not to compromise too much with Democrats on an economic stimulus they are not even sure is warranted."
Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "As President Bush weighs a stimulus package to jump-start the sagging economy, a debate has broken out inside the White House over how hard to push Congress to make Mr. Bush's tax cuts permanent -- a priority for the president, but one that Democrats say would kill the plan before it is even considered.
"On one side, according to people familiar with the deliberations, is a powerful group of pragmatists, including Henry M. Paulson Jr., the treasury secretary; Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff; and Ed Gillespie, counselor to Mr. Bush. They argue that the need for a stimulus is urgent, but have expressed concern that the administration may have to scale back its ambitions for permanent tax cuts to get a package through Congress.
"On the other side, these people say, are staunch economic conservatives like Keith B. Hennessey, the new director of Mr. Bush's National Economic Council. They have reservations about the need for an economic rescue package and maintain that if the White House proposes one, it should use the plan as leverage to press lawmakers into making the tax cuts permanent.....
"Vice President Dick Cheney has also been a strong supporter of the tax cuts, although it is not clear what role he is playing in the current debate."
Maura Reynolds and Richard Simon write in the Los Angeles Times that "senior congressional Republicans said Wednesday they would put aside demands to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent if that was what it took to get quick action on a stimulus package."
Reynold and Simon also write: "Some Republicans acknowledged that the emerging shape of the stimulus legislation made it more likely that the president -- who mentions the issue at every opportunity -- would not get his tax cuts extended before he left office."
Torture Tapes Watch
Walter Pincus and Joby Warrick write in The Washington Post: "The CIA's destruction of videotapes containing harsh interrogations of detainees at secret prisons drew bipartisan criticism from House lawmakers who attended a closed hearing yesterday at which the agency's acting general counsel testified about the matter.
"Intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.) said afterward that he remained convinced that the CIA did not meet its obligation to fully inform congressional overseers about the tapes and their destruction."
One anonymous source present at the hearing told The Post "that White House officials did not seem as involved 'as they might have or should have been' in 2005 decision making about the tapes."
Padilla's Complaint
The Washington Post editorial board urges Congress to investigate Jose Padilla's allegations that he was tortured while being held as an enemy combatant for years: "Congress has launched an investigation of the destruction of CIA tapes that allegedly depicted two al-Qaeda suspects undergoing harsh interrogation. Lawmakers have an even greater interest in determining whether a U.S. citizen was tortured on U.S. soil and, if Mr. Padilla is telling the truth, in ensuring that it never happens again."
Bush v. Whales
Marc Kaufman writes in The Washington Post: "The White House has exempted the Navy from two major environmental laws in an effort to free the service from a federal court's decision limiting the Navy's use of sonar in training exercises.
"Environmentalists who had sued successfully to limit the Navy's use of loud, mid-frequency sonar -- which can be harmful to whales and other marine mammals -- said yesterday that the exemptions were unprecedented and could lead to a larger legal battle over the extent to which the military has to obey environmental laws.
"In a court filing Tuesday, government lawyers said President Bush had determined that allowing the use of mid-frequency sonar in ongoing exercises off Southern California was 'essential to national security' and of 'paramount interest to the United States.'
"Based on that, the documents said, Bush issued the order exempting the Navy from provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality granted the Navy a waiver from the National Environmental Protection Act."
Kenneth R. Weiss writes in the Los Angeles Times: "The battle pits concerns over injuries to marine mammals against troop readiness and national security. But with Bush's latest action, it took on overtones of a struggle between the administrative and judicial branches of government."
Bush does not "have the legal power to overturn a federal court order. So Justice Department lawyers followed his move with legal papers asking the federal courts to remove the order, which was a preliminary injunction that imposed an array of restrictions on the use of sonar, including its shutdown when marine mammals ventured within 2,200 yards of sonar devices."
Here is competing information on sonar and whales from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Navy.
Pocket Veto Redux
David M. Herszenhorn writes in the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday approved a sweeping $696 billion military policy measure after revising a single provision in the 1,300-page bill that had prompted a surprise veto by President Bush.
"Mr. Bush had strongly supported the original bill, which included pay raises for the military and was approved by wide margins in both the House and the Senate. But he vetoed it last month after the Iraqi government raised objections to a provision allowing American victims of state-sponsored terrorism under Saddam Hussein to sue and to collect judgments by seizing foreign assets in the United States.
"The Iraqis had threatened to withdraw $25 billion from American banks if the president signed the measure."
Megan Scully writes for Congress Daily: "House leaders had been weighing whether to hold a veto override vote to publicly challenge the White House's assertions that its actions constituted a pocket veto, an absolute rejection that cannot be overturned by Congress.
"Ultimately, lawmakers opted to avert a constitutional showdown with the White House over the bill."
Karl Rove Watch
Ralph Z. Hallow writes in the Washington Times: "Karl Rove yesterday reprised one of his favorite post-September 11 campaign themes for Republicans, saying Democrats have an outdated -- but not unpatriotic -- view of national security." Rove was speaking at a Republican National Committee gathering.
Sam Youngman writes in The Hill: "Rove, the man President Bush called 'the architect,' might have retired from the White House, he is clearly still very much engaged in the day-to-day mechanics of the presidential contests on both sides. . . .
"The Bush confidant also trotted out one of the lines of attack the RNC has already been working feverishly against [Hillary] Clinton, questioning why she and former President Bill Clinton will not release records from their time in the White House. This, according to Rove, 'raises legitimate questions about what she's hiding.'"
Faiz Shakir writes for ThinkProgress.org: "As the subject of a contempt resolution for hiding documents, Rove is hardly one to talk. Just last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-7 to approve a contempt citation against Rove for withholding information relating to the firing of U.S. attorneys."
May Wedding
David Caplan and Sandra Sobieraj-Westfall write for People: "Jenna Bush and her fiancé Henry Hager will marry in a ceremony on May 10, two sources confirm to People.
"One of the sources says the wedding will be held at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
"'It's going to be a small wedding,' the source tells PEOPLE, adding that Jenna has already selected her bridesmaids."
Cartoon Watch
Steve Sack, John Sherffius, Mike Keefe and MStreeter on Bush's trip; Joel Pett on Bush's new motto.
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