Bush as a Tragic Figure?

Throwing It All Away for a Paranoid Goose Chase

In his fight against terrorism, Bush was riding high on 90% approval ratings, was enjoying strong support from nations around the world, was the hero of the military, and was king within his party.

And he threw it all away.

What makes it even sadder is that there was (and is) a real made to order threat from an evil meglomaniac (Kim Jong Il).    Who could've possibly opposed beefing up our military position against such a nuclear laden looney?

I can only assume Cheney thought that the CIA was being overly conservative about Iraq's WMD capabilities (like in the previous Iraq war when everyone was surprised at how developed their nuclear program was).   But Cheney's paranoid interpretation of intelligence shows a surprising lack of competence (depth, judgement, soberness). Supposedly his specialty.

Also shocking is Cheney's and Rumsfeld's lack of understanding (or lack of listening to knowledgable people) about the risks of getting stuck in a nation building quagmire in Iraq.

So now, instead of riding high, Bush seems either incompetent or deceptive, and is the proud owner of the mother of all nation building quagmires.

It's a tragedy on the level of Nixon's Watergate burglary. Part of a paranoid smear campaign that wasn't needed because Nixon was already winning the election.

Many people want to believe in the "down home" values that Bush represents to them. Simplicity, honesty, instinctive morality.   Maybe the reason that so many people are still loyal to Bush, is that they can't come to grips with the tragedy that has occurred.   A tragedy which potentially represents a failure of those shared down home values.

Ben Slade, 11/13/03