[Rick Lee]

I think we can all agree that Bush dropped the ball on this one and I think a lot of it has to do with the rocky transition from Gonzalez to Mukasey at DOJ. But this is not a problem unique to Bush. Every administration has their class of political appointees and there's nothing wrong with that. Those people are there to implement the president's agenda with the federal agencies, which are often full of very entrenched career bureaucrats who think nothing of stalling until the next guy comes into office. I think this is especially apparent at the State Dept. and Rice has been a total failure in reforming its bureacracy. If anything, I think Bush kept more holdovers than any other president. Norm Mineta, George Tenet (Clinton appointees) are two that come immediately to mind, but there have been far more. And speaking of DOJ dropping the ball when it comes to gun cases, anyone remember Janet (Johnny) Reno's argument on the "gun-free" school zones issue? Yes, of course - it was a Commerce Clause exlcusion.