Lou Dobbs: Homeland a megamerger mess

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Lou Dobbs, respected business analyst, has seen the shape of the future of Homeland Defense and he ain't impressed.

After months of lectures from politicians on how to run their businesses, corporate executives must be chuckling to themselves.

They're watching Washington policymakers make what will likely be a major organizational misstep of their own - pushing forward a massive, ill-conceived merger that puts many of the failed megadeals of the '90s to shame.

The largest reorganization of the federal government in a half-century is now underway.

Bottom line: at the very time we need more security, we are in danger of having less because this "merger" will create fear, uncertainty and doubt among the bureaucrats.

The genius of the Bush administration has always been that it lowered expectations to a point where they found it easy to succeed.

Not now. The bar has to be set high.

POTUS needs to lead a successful implementation of the idea of "Homeland Security"

First up: Where's the funding?

For example, why aren't we checking more than 2 percent of the cargo containers entering the docks in New Jersey? Because money has not been appropriated for that purpose.

I spoke to a life-long resident of NYC last night and he feels like a sitting duck, MORE THAN A YEAR AFTER 9/11.

What's up with that?

Clearly the Dems and the GOP must share the blame.

So the good news is that GOP has the opportunity and the authority and responsibility now to set it straight.

Can they do it? Can they appropriate the necessary funds to make it real? Will POTUS spend the necessary political capital to get it done? Or is he hoarding it all for his re-election run in 2004?

The next two years will tell the tale.