“Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. And we’re helping Iraqis succeed,” said our president in a carefree radio speech last Saturday delivered between carefree bike rides.
My first thought was that of growing opinion: that someone might want to tell George the party is over and he needs to drop the smiley-face pretense. Even his own people are privately, anonymously bailing out of this ideological folly and reality-based disaster. On the other hand, there was the smell of a developing strategy that reflects the White House’s surreal mindset and explains why George doesn’t need to change his tired tune one bit. To follow this, you must put your Bushie thinking cap on. Ready?
First, we are, in fact, winning the war. Second, we have, in fact, lost the war.
Normally only the nimblest of ancient Taoist priests could acclimate to that dizzying height of monumental paradox, but after five years of Bush’s Bizarro World I think we have all made strides in mastering such metaphysical concepts. The goofy contradiction is not just for professionals any longer.
His proclamation will remain the official White House posture. Absolutely nothing will budge the public Bushies - all the Rumsfelds and Rices and all the little McClellans. Iraq could vaporize tomorrow from one titanic suicide bomb and they’d declare the deceased well on their way to peace, prosperity and democracy. This type of fantasy indulgence has always worked remarkably well for them. The administration will now attempt the greatest fantasy trick yet.
In short, “staying the course” no longer means staying the course in Iraq. It means staying the public relations course at home. It means mouthing the most fantastically positive claims imaginable about a manifestly horrendous situation. It means hammering away with familiar propaganda to give an appearance of determined and knowledgeable fortitude.
Bush’s radio speech was a bit like - strike that; it was a lot like - Göbbels’s broadcasts in the final days of WWII. The allies may have been at Hitler’s bunkered doorstep, the smart insiders may have been fleet of foot, all may have been lost; but no problem, the plucky Germans would somehow triumph.
But that’s only the half of it.
None other than propaganda-meister Newt Gingrich has shown the administration how to execute the other half - the perfect back-flip of simultaneously declaring victory and conceding defeat. To wit, “The left has a constant drumbeat that this is Vietnam and a bottomless pit. The daily and weekly casualties leave people feeling that things aren’t going well.” (Note the harsh and concrete terms in reference to the left: “constant drumbeat,” “Vietnam,” “bottomless pit”; then note the gentler ambiguities in reference to general opinion: “feeling,” “things,” not “well.”) According to Gingrich’s evolving BushThink, conservative hawks should therefore advocate “blood, sweat and toil” in the larger effort to vanquish “the irreconcilable wing of Islam.”
Translation: We can depart Iraq to conquer more urgent problems elsewhere, to crush even more enemies, all of whom are abetted by leftist betrayal. Yes, our ultimate victory in Iraq was/is/shall be amazing, considering how we had to overcome our actual defeat orchestrated by the left, which indeed took place there, the place we scored/will score a great victory through our broader efforts. We won/will win, despite losing, which was entirely the left’s fault. But we’ll continue winning.
Perpetual war, constantly shifting theatres, politics über alles, all victories come from the right, all difficulties emanate from the left. Slick-as-a-gut, warmed-over, modified McCarthyism. And it could work.
I’m now removing my Bushie thinking cap. I suggest you do the same. Mental junk can get to be a habit if one absorbs it too long.