Bush Snow Job

A story in the Washington Times has me thinking:

The White House yesterday said President Bush first learned that his agency heads and top advisers had approved a Dubai-owned company's bid to manage six U.S. ports from press reports after it happened.

[Ellipsis.]

But Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, the panel's chairman, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a panel member, say they didn't become aware of the deal until after it was approved.

At first glance it seems disturbing that Bush, the chairman of the committee that approved the Dubai port deal, and at least one other committee member didn't know about the deal until after it was approved. But, then think for a second. If this was true, would they admit it to the press? Surely, they know that it makes them look clueless and/or incompetent. Which gets to the rub of the matter. Bush and his top officials are trying to distance themselves from the decision. Claiming that they didn't know about it will let them save face. Prediction: the decision will be reversed, despite the fact that Dubai has hired Bob Dole as their lobbyist.

UPDATE:

CQ's prediction: "President Bush may be able to rescue a controversial deal to give an Arab company control over operations at six big U.S. ports if he agrees to congressional demands for a delay and further security review."