State of the Union (again)

The Diplomad sees George W. Bush as The Risk Taker.

He gambled his Presidency on removing the Taliban, crushing Al Qaeda, and moving Afghanistan towards democracy. On the Palestinian question, he could have followed the failed policies of the past: schmooze with Arafat, give him money, pretend that he didn't control the "radical" elements, consult with the EU, keep sending special envoys hither and yon, etc. No. Bush cut off Arafat, refused to deal with the Palestinian authority until they held free elections, and now we have a chance, more than ever before, for a solution.

I agree that Bush has taken risks, but they haven't been the risks of the gambler. As I said in my earlier post, these are the risks of a venture capitalist. He took his available capital after 9/11 and invested it in freeing Afghanistan from the Taliban. That investment paid off with a nice profit, and left Bush with the seed capital to free Iraq. Now, it's time to diversify his investment, so President Bush is seeking other markets. Some are adjacent to his current investments, like Egypt and Syria, while his current large risk is in Social Security.
Let's hope that the President's strategy is correct, and that this latest investment of political capital will pay us all a very nice dividend for a long time to come.