Whether or not you are for the war or against the war, for or against Bush, here is an excellent analysis of Bush’s strategic failure in conducting the war in Iraq. To quote from the middle, “[the Bush administration] has adopted a two-tier policy: a complex and nearly hidden strategic plan and a superficial public presentation.”
Personally, I think this administration’s efforts to insulate their internal processes — not just with Iraq but in practically every aspect of government policy — demonstrates a harmful and dangerous style of leadership that is contrary to the best democratic traditions of this country. Even if you agree with his policies on this issue (the analysis I posted above supports the war in Iraq), aren’t any of you concerned about what this administration will privately decide next? Or worse yet, what’s ALREADY been decided without even a semblance of open, public debate?
The strength of democracy, in the liberal tradition anyway, is the public competition of ideas. This is the basic principle behind the First Amendment. This administration, and (dare I speak as a partisan for a moment) increasingly the Republican party itself, has adopted an overall political strategy where public scrutiny of internal strategis (Cheney’s energy council meetings, the Medicare boondoggle, Ashcroft’s wars on just about everything) is intentionally blurred by a two-prong strategy: first, the delivering of misleading or outright dishonest public statements (Bush, etc al) and second, vicious attacks on your opponents. Both efforts serve only to distract from any debate of substance. Whatever your political stripes, we should all be concerned about an administration which, in a GENERAL election, strategically moves to the FAR RIGHT on social issues. It’s a devisive strategy that chokes real debate on any issue, and it’s contrary to the founding principles of this nation.
In any practical analysis, the disconnect between private strategy and public presentation is unstable and should eventually tear this administration apart. My fear is that Bush (and Cheney and Rumsfield and Ashcroft) will do irreparable damage to our country before it does. Anybody-but-Bush this November.
