Bush: I’m Sleeping A Lot Better Than People Would Assume
Stubborn or Stalwart, Bush Is Loath to Budge
[A]s Bush rethinks his strategy in Iraq and approaches one of the most fateful moments of his presidency, he confronts difficult questions: At what point does determination to a cause become self-defeating folly? Can he change direction in a meaningful way without sacrificing principle? For Bush, this is a tension that goes to the heart of his political identity and governing style. He captured and retained the presidency in part by portraying two successive Democratic opponents as finger-in-the-wind politicians without a core set of beliefs. The notion of bending to critics or even popular will cuts against his grain.
It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. If that’s true, and I firmly believe it is, then we are being ruled by a man who is truly, undeniably insane. Any reasonable observer should be able to ascertain that the war in Iraq is not working. Whatever you want to see come out of our military involvement in Iraq, it simply is not working. Period. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. WE. ARE. NOT. WINNING. (However you may happen to define “victory”.)
When most people are confronted with something that isn’t working, they try to find out what’s broken and how they can change things up to make it work. In a sense, I suppose that’s what Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader thinks he’s doing…albeit with some caveats and preconceived notions.
Instead of looking at Iraq with an open mind, it appears that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader is unwilling to even consider ideas that don’t initially appeal to him. His comment last week that “I’ve heard some things that would lead to defeat, and I reject those ideas” speaks to the mindset of a man unwilling to change course or consider anything substantially different from what’s already being done.
In the end, it’s quite likely that precisely nothing will change. Indeed, it’s quite possible that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader will send even more troops to Iraq, deepening the Vietnam-like quagmire we find ourselves in. Throwing more troops at the problem will not accomplish anything…except sending more of our sons and daughters home in flag-draped boxes.
On its Web site last week, the Democratic National Committee said Bush could be “the most stubborn man on Earth” for not immediately embracing the study group’s plan. Critics predicted that any new strategy he announces after the holidays will be little more than a dressed-up version of “stay the course.” And a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 66 percent of Americans do not think Bush is willing to change his policies in Iraq.
Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader’s comments and his bearing give no indication that this is a leader willing to change anything in recognition of the reality that Iraq is a complete, utter abject failure. Stubborn wouldn’t begin to describe this sorry excuse for a President’s unjustifiable, delusional self-certainty. “Criminal” might be a better description.
“I just don’t believe that this president, with this vice president whispering in his ear every moment, is oriented to change,” said retired Col. Larry Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in Bush’s first term. “And even if he were, I don’t believe his administration is capable of implementing change.”
Lawrence J. Korb, a former Pentagon official under President Ronald Reagan, agreed. “When it comes to Iraq, he has basically confused stubbornness with steadfastness,” said Korb, who is now at the liberal Center for American Progress. “I think he believes that regardless of what other people say, if he simply stays the course, he’ll be eventually proved right. But what he fails to see is the current course isn’t working and he has options.”
For the past six years, Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader has demonstrated himself to be the most stubborn, intellectually challenged President in our nation’s history. Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader seems to make decisions that fit his religious and philosophical underpinnings, and then those decisions becomes his unshakable and immutable truth, impervious to failure, reality, or anything else that does fit his view of the way things ought to be…because in his mind, that could lead to being perceived as indecisive and wishy-washy.
The perception of Bush as unusually stubborn has defined his tenure to some extent, much to the consternation of adversaries and sometimes even allies. But Bush was deeply influenced by the fate of his father, whose decision to break his no-new-taxes pledge as president helped doom his reelection. The lesson: Stick to decisions regardless of shifts in political winds.
The seemingly unshakeable confidence in the rightness of his positions has helped the current president weather political storms that might overwhelm others. For a man who presides over an unpopular war, just lost Congress and faces a final two years with constrained options, Bush gives little sign of self-pity. At holiday parties for friends and family in recent days, he has found himself bucking up others depressed by the turn in his political fortunes. “Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it looks,” he told one friend visiting the White House. “There’s a lot we can get done.”
When it comes to Iraq, things are every bit as bad as they look…and worse. While increasing numbers of young Americans come home in flag-draped boxes, Iraq is no closer to being able to stand on it’s own two feet than it was in March, 2003 when the war began. Almost 3,000 of our sons and daughters have died…and for what? For a policy that, despite all evidence to the contrary, is still considered by Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader to be a recipe for victory? For a war that continues to claim growing numbers of young Americans from roadside bombs and other forms of unconventional combat? For being stuck in the middle of a sectarian civil war that we can neither stop nor materially impact?
Let’s get something straight here: stubbornness is not a virtue. Refusing to even consider changing course because you think that you’ll be branded as indecisive and a failure as a leader only means that more of our sons and daughter will die horrible, senseless deaths in Iraq- a war that has NOTHING to do with the war on terror. Stubbornness can and should only be taken as an indication that one is too prideful and stupid to own up to their mistakes. In the case of Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader, his continued stubborn insistence on “staying the course” only means more random death sentences for young Americans who deserve better.
NOW CAN WE IMPEACH THE LYING, MURDERING BASTARD?
