Maybe he was on a secret mission for Henry Kissinger?

Kevin Drum's been doggedly following the documentary evidence, such as it is, surrounding the questions about George W. Bush's service in the National Guard. At the end of today's post, Kevin asks:

"Bottom line: if Bush's story is really true, he can put a stop to all this speculation instantly by simply ordering all the relevant archives to release his entire record, warts and all. Why won't he?"

That's a good question, considering that releasing service records in their entirety used to be par-for-the-course for Presidents (except in the case of Clinton, who never served), up until this particular President. My suspicion is that the answer to Kevin's question is twofold: First, there really is something embarrassing in Bush's service record, although almost certainly nothing that rises to the level of, say, Michael Moore's insistence that Bush is a "deserter" (why General Clark didn't distance himself from that is beyond me). There probably is a bit of self-preservation going on here; likely, Bush's service was spotty enough to warrant some kind of "slap-on-the-wrist" discipline, and they don't want that getting out.

Second, though, I suspect that the Bush people don't want to release the records because to do so would be to turn from their constant attitude to date of, "We are the Executive Branch, you will listen to us, you will take whatever we decide to give you, and you will like it." The idea that anyone should have any question about anything pertaining to the President beyond what has already been doled out piecemeal is completely alien to their mindset.

(To be fair, this is not a failing unique to the Bush Administration, although I think they elevate it to amazing levels, what with their tendency to bleat "But it's wartime!" at every instance of potential criticism and request for information. The Clinton Administration's reluctance to just fork everything over at the outset of the whole Whitewater mess kept that whole embarrassment simmering along, right up to the arrival on the scene of "that woman, Miss Lewinsky".)