So the Bush Regime is finally being taken down by the powers-that-be for so many good reasons. Let's get real, since WWII the military-industrial complex has consistently pushed for increasing military spending and aggressive military policy to 1) ensure continued business profits, 2) systematically extract and exploit resources at will, and 3) control strategic areas around the world to maintain this agenda of US global dominance indefinately.
The ruling elite have only tolerated Liberal governments because it is the best way to keep American citizens pacified enough at home to tolerate the injustices being done in their name throughout the world. In other words, they have given Americans just enough so that they don't disrupt the system of US global dominance. A true Progressive like Dennis Kucinich would never be given any real power, because he has stated that he would drastically cut military spending and create a Department of Peace. A true Progressive would, indeed, decrease the funding of "Defense" and would, instead, throw money at creating equal education, health care for all, environmental clean-up, and other well-meaning things that have nothing to do with the real agenda of the ruling elite.
So while the Bush Administration is committed to the goals of 1, 2, and 3...their incompetence is turning into a real threat to the ruling elites. Firstly, they are too transparent. Normally, the US just takes over a country by sending in a few thousand trained militants, a few fighter-jets, and stages a coupe without making such a spectacle of it. Or if they do decide to declare war, like Gulf War I, at least it was done under a somewhat coherent premise. But in the age of the Internet, blatant and obvious lies only work on the most naive and unaware among us. While it took a long time for most Americans to see through the propaganda, citizens of the world weren't fooled at all. Yet for many Americans, it wasn't until Katrina that a critical mass finally woke up. The fact that Progressives are achieving critical mass is a big problem for the ruling elite because our agenda is directly opposed to theirs. So something has to be done. That's one of the reasons we're starting to see what almost looks like justice (the Libby indictment) and freedom of the press these days.
So of course the concerns of the ruling elite are different from yours and mine. The Bush Administration's incompetence in the Middle East has forced the US and Israel to withdraw from Gaza, for example. Failing to compromise here would mean further incensing the Arabs and becoming even more transparent, which threatens our access to oil throughout the region. Since WWII, Zionist concerns have always been in competition with the interests of oil. Another tremendous threat to the ruling elite is the rise of Socialism and Nationalism throughout South America. Leaders like Chavez prevent US corporations from controlling oil and from extracting other natural resources. US policy for at least the past 60 years has been to prevent and disrupt these kinds of people's movements. Today, we are starting to see them spread (again, because US policy has become transparent).
So these days, the ruling elite must surely be conflicted and confused. How are they going to do the necessary work of taking down these cronies without exposing things to the point that US citizens lose their faith in the system altogether? How can you replace them with a Democratic leadership clever enough to fool the world again without actually tampering with the inherently corrupt and exploitative system? Just how much will have to be given to appease the masses? How can anything be given to the masses at all when the federal budget is overstretched and access to oil is diminishing?
From the ruling elite's perspective, I'm actually starting to understand why they bet on this racehorse that should be called "Fascism", despite decreasing odds for success, over these past 4 years. The alternative is tricky, and will now only be tried reluctantly because the Fascist experiment in the USA has failed.
I'm not sure anyone, including the ruling elite, knows what's next.