Friday, November 28, 2003
Good Morning, Iraq, Happy Thanksgiving, Baghdad
Wasn't that the message of the President's surprise visit to the troops, during the first several hours after midnight, which made it technically A.M, and technically Thanksgiving? He received several standing ovations from the troops, which is as it should be, and his visit seemed to buoy their spirits.
That it had something of the quality of a PR stunt, that it was hardly a vindiction of this administration's policies for a President to have to sneak into a country we've liberated and now occupy for the most idealistic of purposes, we're told, and not be able to move beyond the confines of the airport, or be able to stay more than two hours, that, as always, the emphasis was on Bush, not as representative of the whole country, but as a President who is actually more important than the rest of the country, who personalizes every challenge, so that the trip was expressing his determination to stay the course, his fighting spirit, etc., that the trip was made under conditions of security unavailable to any of our troops on the ground, and finally that the media, as began yesterday, will have the planned for Rovian response, praising the President's boldness and courage, and not notice his happy acceptance of the most extravagant accolades without much thought, public and probably private, about the struggle of our troops to reach deep into themselves to find such courage, not for two hours, but every minute of every day of their tour of duty in Iraq, are all reasonable observations, and questions worthy of being raised. I hope the Democratic voices who are quoted, the professional Democrats, won't bother to raise them.
This is not a call to wuss out. It's a call for the Democratic Party to get smart. I think it's fairly clear that one of the goals of this trip was precisely to draw fire from Democrats. Why give Rove exactly what he wants?
The fact is that this is what Presidents are supposed to do, visit the troops who are under arms; even if he did it with his usual lack of grace, he was acting as the President, fullfilling the functions of an office that belongs to all of us.
Yes, the Republicans for eight years got away with heaping manure all over a Democratic President and the office itself. They did pay a price, though. Despite the national distaste for the details of what went on between Monica and Bill, an overwhelming majority of Americans were clear on who to blame for the fact that those details had been called to their attention. The Republicans still had to steal the next election. And don't tell me that Al Gore had everything going for him; nonsense. What the eight years of assaults on Bill Clinton personally and on his Presidency did succeed in doing was to create a wholly unearned sense of permanent scandal and sordid political chicanery around everyone who was part of it. Unfortunately, the sense of disgust about the tone in Washington fell more on Gore than on its true source, the Republican Party, and even so, they had to steal an election to win.
Americans are tired of the vitriol. They're tired of wedge issues, they're tired of being divided from one another. George W. Bush has failed to come through with a campaign promise he made again and again, one that I personally believe was the key to his success at enticing swing voters into the Republican column - he has been a divider, and not a uniter. That has certainly been one of Howard Dean's most effective themes, and Senator Edwards used it to great advantage for the Democrats in the last presidential debate. This trip is a perfect example. If the President had really wanted this country to show the world and our men and women serving in Iraq a united front, he might have considered the possibility of taking other high officials along, including a Democrat. It is almost unimaginable that this administration would ever consider doing such a thing.
All of this is becoming increasingly clear to a majority of Americans. The Democrats should let others, especially those of us at the grassroots level, raise issues about this visit, in the form of letters to the editor, emails to congress and to members of the media.
Here's Dana Milbank on yesterday's stunt..ed visit to the troops. (Sometimes it's hard to follow your own advice)
That it had something of the quality of a PR stunt, that it was hardly a vindiction of this administration's policies for a President to have to sneak into a country we've liberated and now occupy for the most idealistic of purposes, we're told, and not be able to move beyond the confines of the airport, or be able to stay more than two hours, that, as always, the emphasis was on Bush, not as representative of the whole country, but as a President who is actually more important than the rest of the country, who personalizes every challenge, so that the trip was expressing his determination to stay the course, his fighting spirit, etc., that the trip was made under conditions of security unavailable to any of our troops on the ground, and finally that the media, as began yesterday, will have the planned for Rovian response, praising the President's boldness and courage, and not notice his happy acceptance of the most extravagant accolades without much thought, public and probably private, about the struggle of our troops to reach deep into themselves to find such courage, not for two hours, but every minute of every day of their tour of duty in Iraq, are all reasonable observations, and questions worthy of being raised. I hope the Democratic voices who are quoted, the professional Democrats, won't bother to raise them.
This is not a call to wuss out. It's a call for the Democratic Party to get smart. I think it's fairly clear that one of the goals of this trip was precisely to draw fire from Democrats. Why give Rove exactly what he wants?
The fact is that this is what Presidents are supposed to do, visit the troops who are under arms; even if he did it with his usual lack of grace, he was acting as the President, fullfilling the functions of an office that belongs to all of us.
Yes, the Republicans for eight years got away with heaping manure all over a Democratic President and the office itself. They did pay a price, though. Despite the national distaste for the details of what went on between Monica and Bill, an overwhelming majority of Americans were clear on who to blame for the fact that those details had been called to their attention. The Republicans still had to steal the next election. And don't tell me that Al Gore had everything going for him; nonsense. What the eight years of assaults on Bill Clinton personally and on his Presidency did succeed in doing was to create a wholly unearned sense of permanent scandal and sordid political chicanery around everyone who was part of it. Unfortunately, the sense of disgust about the tone in Washington fell more on Gore than on its true source, the Republican Party, and even so, they had to steal an election to win.
Americans are tired of the vitriol. They're tired of wedge issues, they're tired of being divided from one another. George W. Bush has failed to come through with a campaign promise he made again and again, one that I personally believe was the key to his success at enticing swing voters into the Republican column - he has been a divider, and not a uniter. That has certainly been one of Howard Dean's most effective themes, and Senator Edwards used it to great advantage for the Democrats in the last presidential debate. This trip is a perfect example. If the President had really wanted this country to show the world and our men and women serving in Iraq a united front, he might have considered the possibility of taking other high officials along, including a Democrat. It is almost unimaginable that this administration would ever consider doing such a thing.
All of this is becoming increasingly clear to a majority of Americans. The Democrats should let others, especially those of us at the grassroots level, raise issues about this visit, in the form of letters to the editor, emails to congress and to members of the media.
Here's Dana Milbank on yesterday's stunt..ed visit to the troops. (Sometimes it's hard to follow your own advice)
