Pelosi simply being a good parent to Bush

When my young son comes to the point on Saturdays when he's supposed to do his chores -- and believe me, he's hardly in a forced-labor camp -- he sometimes needs adult guidance in how to get the job done. He complains, he procrastinates, he gets overwhelmed by the tasks at hand until I step in and provide direction. Hey, he's nine years old.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is doing much the same thing with George W. Bush when it comes to his presidential responsibilities.

Pelosi has come under fire from the White House for her trip to Syria to meet with the country's leaders and to observe the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, which have been all but ignored by the Bush administration.

“As recommended by the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan delegation led by Speaker Pelosi intends to discuss a wide range of security issues affecting the United States and the Middle East with representatives of governments in the region, including Syria,” said Pelosi Spokesman Brendan Daly last week.

And nobody is saying that dealing with Syria, from which the U.S. withdrew its ambassador in 2005, is an easy thing to do. We're not exactly what anyone would call fast friends with Damascus and the hard work of negotiating with enemies or potential enemies is not for the weak or intellectually lazy. Sadly, Bush is both of those things.