Earlier today, I browsed a batch of news and political websites. Since I was still full of anesthetic, it seemed like the ideal time.
As I think I've made clear, I have a pretty low opinion of George W. Bush as a president. This has never been that rare a viewpoint in our country and it's becoming more and more popular. Nevertheless, every time I express it here, even in the most gentle of manners, I get a couple of strident e-mails accusing me (a) of being a Bush-hater and/or (b) of parroting the Democratic National Committee "spin."
I can understand how someone might like the Bush agenda, at least as stated. I'm not sure they're getting the presidency they think they voted for…but then, I don't think the folks who voted for Reagan, Clinton or the other Bush got the presidencies they thought they were getting. I think we're always way too forgiving of "our guy" and unwilling to judge him by his actions. In any case, I don't think it's nuts to want all the things G.W.B. and Dick Cheney promised in those campaign speeches. What leaves me baffled is this desperation to dismiss any complaint about their administration as irrational or insincere. Any of their defenders will tell you that, at least in theory, no government official is flawless and everyone should be subject to criticism. But they also don't seem to think any specific complaint about this administration is fair or valid. (A favorite deflector lately seems to be to accuse the critic of being "shrill." In other words, "Let's not talk about the charge that Bush policies are getting people killed or driving them into poverty. Let's talk about what's really important — your tone of voice.")
Today, I received around a dozen e-mails objecting to my postings here about the mess down in the Gulf Coast. There are prominent Republicans saying most of what I'm saying but somehow, the new response is to dismiss all criticisms of the White House as Bush-bashing and as D.N.C. talking points. So say the people who think all criticism of Bush is "Bush-bashing" and who gladly regurgitate the R.N.C talking points. I also loved the guy who wrote, "This is no time to play the Blame Game" and then proceeded to explain how it was all the fault of the Democratic (his emphasis) mayor and governor down there.
It's sad that the process of helping hurricane victims has now been relegated to Job Two, Job One being the manipulation of public sentiments to try and gain immediate political advantage. I saw Nancy Pelosi give an interview today which was kind of the inverse: Let's not play the Blame Game and, by the way, make sure you only blame Republicans. I didn't much like what I was hearing from Ms. Pelosi. If I were her, I'd just say, "I'll tell you who was responsible for the failures. Everyone with a position of responsibility was responsible. The ones who did nothing should have done something. The ones who did something should have done more and done it sooner." If that means some Democrats get blamed, fine. Maybe it's time somebody was held accountable for something.
We have this real scary Cover Your Ass mentality now in Washington, and it's worse than it's ever been. They protect the top guy because he's the top guy, and they protect all the people under him because to blame them would be to admit things had gone wrong on his watch. No one was fired for whatever intelligence mistakes led up to 9/11. No one was fired for all the inaccurate reports about Saddam Hussein's weaponry. Our leaders grossly misunderestimated the cost of the Iraq War, the number of troops we'd need to fight it and how we'd be welcomed there. No one was fired. If anyone at FEMA or the Department of Homeland Security is sacked or even faulted, it will only be because they've reached some new, hitherto-unimaginable level of incompetence such that even their own party can't save them…or someone decides that they should take a bullet (and all the blame) for the team.
I once saw a kid who worked at a pizza stand get fired on the spot for screwing up a big order. If that kid grew up to work in government and his incompetence caused people to die, he'd not only keep his job, they'd probably give him a promotion. That's after they give him the medal.