[because Santa still visits my house]
Bush and Rove understand poll numbers. They can feel the chill from Capitol Hill. They know that we’re going broke. They know that the military is spread too thin and recruitment is plummeting.
But there is something else they understand, and they did nothing to correct it tonight. They know that their goals in Iraq will be irrevocably lost if, and only if, domestic tolerance for the war collapses.
:::flip:::
They made the decision to, once again, characterize the war in Iraq as a war against terrorists. They made the case for more money, lives, and sacrifice based on the increased risk of terrorism in this country and Europe, if we pull-out.
I notice this dovetails with a CIA study that was reported on this week in the New York Times. And it is probably true that pulling out of Iraq will leave behind a trained force of terrorists filled with a belief that Allah has given them a great victory.
But the real risk in Iraq is that an implosion of their society could draw in neighboring countries, it could result in ethnic and sectarian cleansing. And it could be disruptive to the energy sector of the world economy.
I know it’s difficult to admit mistakes, and it’s even harder to ask for help from your political enemies. But that is what Bush needs to do.
First, he needs to admit that he miscalculated how the Iraqis would feel about being liberated and occupied by the United States. Then he needs to explain what the humanitarian and economic risks are if Iraq becomes a failed state, and a regional battlefield. Then he needs to ask for help.
And since he has burned his bridges with both the American left, and with our European allies, he needs to offer us both something in return for our willingness to step in and try to clean up his mess.
Number one, is to fire Rumsfeld, and to replace him with someone acceptable to the Democratic leadership. Number two is to withdraw Bolton’s nomination. Number three is to drop his social security plan, and number four is to nominate a Supreme Court judge that has the prior approval of a solid majority of the Senate Judicial Committee.
Then he needs to offer up a platter of concessions to our European friends.
We cannot forgive the way the war in Iraq was thrust on us, nor can we forgive the way we have been treated as we raised caution after caution, and were called traitors in return.
But we can recognize a bloody mess when we see it. And we can agree that getting out of Iraq will be difficult and messy, and may have severe consequences for our economy and our national security.
But as long as you, Bush, are content to wage war on the American left, you cannot expect us to get your back. Take your agenda, your judges, and your worst performing cabinet members, and get them out of our face. Make peace with us, and we can help you make peace with the insurgents.
But if you call us traitors, question our patriotism, and try to railroad home your radical agenda, all we can do is fight back. You have too many enemies right now, you can’t afford to fight them all.
If you will admit that you have made some serious miscalculations, and that we have been correct in many of our predictions…that would be a start.
Stop feeding us the old lines about bin-Laden, Zarqawi, and terrorism, and explain what the real threats of failure are. Your Presidency is now on the verge of a total flameout, it’s time to throw out a life raft. And it begins with backing off your original plans for a second-term agenda, and making this more of a coalition government.
obliquely, on a very important point:
But as long as you, Bush, are content to wage war on the American left, you cannot expect us to get your back.
The entire point of the War(s) as engaged, as “sold” and as implemented was specifically and directly intended to wage a sub rosa war on the American and European Left.
Iraq was never the target, and Al Qaeda was a convenient foil.
The war was always, and will always be a military war abroad waged for the purposes of cementing political power at home.
It was ALWAYS a War specifically targetted on the Left and the Liberal.
(1) Within days of 9/11, the WSJ ran an editorial advising Bush to sieze the opportunity to institute a broad and sweeping conservative agenda.
(2) In the same time frame, Fallwell and Robertson discussed 9/11 as God’s retribution for America’s sins–basically expressing the same general worldview as bin Laden. Fallwell–a leftover figurehead from a bygone era–was immediately shot down, while Robertson–a major player who’s a billionare in his own right–was treated as if he hadn’t even been in the same room.
This always appeared to me as a carefully calibrated message about how (1) was going to be carried out. They’d use the terrorist bogeyman to get everything they could, continuing their bin Laden-style demonization of liberals, but explicitly denying any affinity with him.
Someone utterly unlike himself. Someone, he would, in fact, deride as a wuss.
Someone you would not have to be criminally insane to vote for.
I hope you noted the first line of the diary 😉
This is just an example of what a President would do if he faced such dire circumstances in real life.
In BushWorld Santa never comes.
Yes, well, “a president” would have to be elected, now wouldn’t he?
It never ceases to amaze me the degree of denial that our entire culture has sunk into.
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by Egypt. It seemed like such an exotic culture. So different from our own. So rational in some regards, so utterly insane in others.
I went to see the King Tut exhibit weekend before last, and my sense was entirely different. It was like I was just looking at a different version of our own society. “Oh, we could totally do that!” was a recurring thought.
And the height of absurdity, for me, was the protesters outside proclaiming, “Tut Is Back, and he is Black!”
It’s like, “We Want Our Share Of The Delusion, Too!!!”
As if they couldn’t be bothered to protest all their sons and daughters being killed over in Iraq, because that would just be too real, and all like the 60s, and nobody’s into that shit no more.
Well, they got their wish. They got televised. Tut would have been so proud.
Bush. Tut. Bush. Tut. Bush. Tut. Bush. Tut.
“And it begins with backing off your original plans for a second-term agenda, and making this more of a coalition government.”
That one sentence my dear Booman reflect’s your belief in Santa Claus…fair play and justice. Georgie boy never had to share his toys as a little boy and is still a spoiled brat that has to have it his way.
Nixon never backed off and it cost him the Presidency. We may not get Shrub out of office before 2008 but maybe enough good people will vote for the good of America in 2006. And I believe in elves and fairies
LOL…this is just what I thought. Boy, if King George admitted his mistake and asked the country to stand behind him and hlep him fix his error, then his numbers would skyrocket. There are plenty of people out there who want to give hime another chance. But, he never admits to making a mistake. As if Iraq could be merely made into a mistake. I didn’t see the conference as I cannot stomach watching the horror, but from what I have heard, he did not succeed in making people happy about sacraficing our children.
It will be a cold day in hell before this admin ever admits they fucked up beyond belief. I am more and more confident that this Baby Bush will go down in history as The. Worst. President. Ever. Thank the Goddess for small victories.
Disclaimer: the following is speculation.
They waited too long and they made the classic mistake all successful people inevitably make when they’re successful too many times in a row: They continued doing something they’re good at, when conditions had changed and they actually needed to be doing something else.
What they’re good at is manipulating voters. Not “people” — voters. The distinction is crucial.
Their giga-hyped “terror” threat is great at manipulating voters, but it doesn’t manipulate people as a whole. In the particular: troops.
Even though we’ve all swallowed the notion that we’re engaged in a “war” on terror, nobody is seeing armadas at sea, aerial battles, tanks sweeping across continents, food shortages, conversion of the economy–any of the tangible pain that motivates people to fight at risk of life and limb for their country. Rhetoric only moves people to that kind of sacrifice momentarily, and that moment is now well past.
The people are seeing virtually nothing coming at us, and the troops overseas probably for the most part are not seeing anything there that’s coming at their families and towns and institutions back home. They’ve got the “war” meme in their heads and mouths, but their guts aren’t supporting the meme with daily experience.
That’s why recruitment is consistently down. Not because there isn’t “war” of some kind or because the legalities are questionable or Bush did something actively wrong to put them off. I think it’s down because the tangible threat and the definable enemy aren’t there to overpower the instincts to survive and manage life here at home.
What they need to do is to stimulate a wave of enlistment but they simply cannot do that with even the most brilliant political messaging unless the crisis seems immediate. Their last reasonable opportunity to motivate recruits to join up using rhetoric was probably many months ago when they were still believing they were about to win.
It’s out of their hands now.
When I read this line
they made the classic mistake all successful people inevitably make
my first thought was “He broke the rule, ‘Never get involved in a land war in Asia.’ “
So what’s wrong with a land war in Asia, anyway? You talk like someone who’s concerned with maintaining the political well being of an already existing civilization.
Or are you just being snarky (as I suspect)? It’s so hard to tell from the way one types. I will explain if I have to, but explaining is the surest way to kill a joke.
Right after clicking “Post” I saw the snark. fnord
“It’s a Snark!” was the sound that first came to their ears,
And seemed almost too good to be true.
Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers:
Then the ominous words “It’s a Boo-“
Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air
A weary and wandering sigh
Then sounded like “-jum!” but the others declare
It was only a breeze that went by.
They hunted till darkness came on, but they found
Not a button, or feather, or mark,
By which they could tell that they stood on the ground
Where the Baker had met with the Snark.
In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away — –
For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.
He comes to my house too. Brilliant, Booman, so simple, eloquent, and and I wish I’d wrote it.
Wombat.
Spot on BooMan!
Bush’s only hope of success in Iraq is if he gets help. But he can only do that if he admits he needs it.
There is no evidence to suggest that he has EVER admitted to needing help.
… enter rehab pretty damn quick before those mind altering drugs do any more damage to his vague attachment to reality.
Booman, the believer in Santa Claus, should join him.
Booman, as long as we’re spending our summer vacation in Fantasyland, let me add one important thing Bush needs to do if we are to give him any credibility and support:
Apologize, and call off the war against liberals.
He needs to stand up before the American people and say, clearly and unambiguously, that those of us on the left are not traitors, we are not trying to destroy America, we are not in league with the terrorists, and we are just as patriotic and love our country just as much as anyone on the right. I’m not going to go so far as to think he should say we were right about everything all along (for one thing, that would implicate him in war crimes), but in my own private version of this improbable scenario he, as leader of his party, has to say enough is enough and permanently, irrevocably, call off the attack.
Why would he apologize to the main targets in the REAL war?
The entire reason for the Iraq War, and one could argue, the Afghan War, was for political clout at home.
The GWOT was never really intended to fight terror…it was intended to win elections and marginalize the Liberals and smear the Left.
but like I said, we’re spending our summer vacation in Fantasyland, so why not wish for it?
He’s used Iraq to score political points at home; fair enough. But he’s bungled the whole thing now to the point where he is in serious jeopardy of losing control of the country to the Democrats. The questions then becomes, how badly is he going to lose; in the extreme case, if the Democrats get anywhere close to a 2/3 majority in Congress, he faces impeachment and a political agenda that makes the New Deal look like a Sunday School picnic. (He says as they pass the Dumbo ride.)
I guess my point is, he’s dug himself in so far that he can’t get out without our help, and then the question becomes “Why should we help him out of his mess if it’s likely that we’re going to continue to be smeared as traitors even as we do so?” “Because we’re the good guys” is starting to wear thin.
Drea- ea- ea- ea- m,
Dream, dream, dream!
He’s taking everybody down with him, but he will NEVER admit fault to anything. A complete egoist.
Booman, I think it helps to “frame” our situation by thinking about what a sane leader would do in these circumstances. Even though its not likely, it points out the level of insanity that we are dealing with to contemplate what a reasonable and practical response would be. So thanks for this.
Bush should give some attention to winning the war in Afghanistan. The Taliban (that’s right, the fucking Taliban!) has shot down a US Chinook helicopter with 17 people on board.
The US invasion of Afghanistan was launched in October of 2001. What would we have thought then if we could have foreseen that almost 4 years hence these folks would be shooting down our aircraft?
With Bush’s pattern of starting a new war when he’s unable to win the last one, perhaps an invasion of Iran really is on the drawing board.
How about he just resigns? And then testifies about all of the crimes and coverups his administration committed to a grand jury, turning states witness so Rove, Cheney, and the rest of the neocon puppetmasters can finally go to prison.
I think this scenario has about the same chances as happening as yours, BooMan, but I also think that your piece is brilliant and right on, nad definately needed to be said. It is just this kind of thing that Dem leaders should be saying publicly. The people are starting to (finally) wake up and are realizing that Bush is a first-rate loser. The Dems need to quickly set themselves apart and counter the inevitable accusations of “It’s their fault!” and “Obstructionist!” that even now are starting to come from the flailing GOP. This is very much along the same lines as Reid’s SCOTUS preemptive strike. The theme should be “Look, we are trying to make things better <s>even though we totally fucking told you so</s>, while the Republicans are only making excuses and lying to you.”