George Bush, Transnational Progressive

First there’s this screed in Human Events, now this editorial from the more mainstream conservative mouthpiece National Review accusing Bush of being in the thrall of transnational progressives (“tranzis,” for short). Coming out against ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty, NR asks: why the Adminstration support for it?

Well, it seems to be part of a pattern. That pattern includes also the astonishing decision of the Bush White House to seek the overriding of Texas law on the death penalty in deference to the World Court. What we are seeing is an outbreak of Tranzi-ism in the administration. Cowed by accusations of earlier “unilateralism,” the administration now bends over backwards to placate the “international community.” The permanent bureaucracy at the U.S. State Department has long been in the grip of this tendency. Since the departure of John Bolton, our diplomatic officialdom seems to have kept a pliant administration, including both president and secretary of state, under its sway. As a result we may soon be relying on a U.N. bureaucracy to maintain the freedom of the seas essential to our trade, commerce, and military alliances.

Who’d have thunk that George Bush would end up the bedfellow of the internationalists. I doubt he’s self-identifying that way. So what really explains the Administration’s submission? IL must have some muscle behind it to have prevailed with these folks. (Meanwhile, will “tranzi” emerge as post-globalization’s equivalent of “commie” with the red-meat crowd? Somehow I just don’t see it catching on beyond the confines of Free Republic.) Meanwhile, it looks as if even the bitter-enders are jumping ship. Who will be left come 1/19/09?