The American people usually have a knack for getting things right at the gut level, and they have demonstrated that this is the case with the UAE port deal:

Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement.

CBS News senior White House correspondent Jim Axelrod reports that now it turns out the Coast Guard had concerns about the ports deal, a disclosure that is no doubt troubling to a president who assured Americans there was no security risk from the deal.

Whoever urged the president to go out and immediately threaten to veto any legislation that would kill the deal, thereby painting him into an embarassing corner on this matter, should be fired sooner rather than later.