Decider-in-chief gets chimpy.
Yesterday in the Rose Garden W. said, again, that he's decided Rummy is doing a great job, and to put a finer point on this, he said he doesn't "appreciate the criticism of Don Rumsfeld." (If this keeps up, he's going to become Rummy's secretary of defense.) He's really getting testy now, better not mess with Texas. First there was Abu Ghraib, then Guantanamo, and now all these damn generals saying Rummy blew it in Iraq! What must really rankle with Chimpy is that this, by extension, must mean that he's really at fault because he keeps standing behind His Defensivness. Goodness gracious!
Lately, W. has been trying to pretend that he's open to tough questions, but that all went out the window when he got all huffy and reminded the press that he's the decider-in-chief. "I'm the decider, I decide what's best, ." and then stormed off; so much for open-minded W.
Maybe, if either of them had the humility to admit that they'd made some mistakes, or at the very least, can tolerate criticism of any kind, people might give them some slack. In a weird kind of way, Rummy kind of showed a little bit of faux humility when he said "grave yards all over the world are filled with 'indispensable men,'" when he was trying to explain that he serves at the convenience of the president. (Where have I heard that before?), but the problem is, his policies are filling up our grave yards with other people's sons and daughters who really are indispensable to them.
It would be nice if he could admit that his blunders have cost thousands of lives, like Ulysses Grant did in his memoirs about the disaster at Cold Harbor. Grant lost 7000 troops in 7 minutes against Lee's fully entrenched graycoats in a pointless frontal assault. This was perhaps one of the greatest military blunders in our military history. Grant didn't blame it on the press or the State Department or his generals, no, he said:
"I have always regretted that last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22nd of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy losses we sustained. Indeed, the advantages other than those of relative losses, were on the Confederate side."
[Personal Memoirs: Chapter VL]
Of course, Grant could afford to admit his errors a little more easily, because he actually knew what he was doing and actually won the war, unlike Rummy who has no idea of what he's doing and is on the way to losing, not one war, but two.
Lately, W. has been trying to pretend that he's open to tough questions, but that all went out the window when he got all huffy and reminded the press that he's the decider-in-chief. "I'm the decider, I decide what's best, ." and then stormed off; so much for open-minded W.
Maybe, if either of them had the humility to admit that they'd made some mistakes, or at the very least, can tolerate criticism of any kind, people might give them some slack. In a weird kind of way, Rummy kind of showed a little bit of faux humility when he said "grave yards all over the world are filled with 'indispensable men,'" when he was trying to explain that he serves at the convenience of the president. (Where have I heard that before?), but the problem is, his policies are filling up our grave yards with other people's sons and daughters who really are indispensable to them.
It would be nice if he could admit that his blunders have cost thousands of lives, like Ulysses Grant did in his memoirs about the disaster at Cold Harbor. Grant lost 7000 troops in 7 minutes against Lee's fully entrenched graycoats in a pointless frontal assault. This was perhaps one of the greatest military blunders in our military history. Grant didn't blame it on the press or the State Department or his generals, no, he said:
"I have always regretted that last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22nd of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy losses we sustained. Indeed, the advantages other than those of relative losses, were on the Confederate side."
[Personal Memoirs: Chapter VL]
Of course, Grant could afford to admit his errors a little more easily, because he actually knew what he was doing and actually won the war, unlike Rummy who has no idea of what he's doing and is on the way to losing, not one war, but two.
posted by William Duane at 12:44 PM
1 Comments:
You know what I was thinking about the other day that this post just emphasizes further? What the fuck kind of political criticism is the term "flip-flopper?" I mean, Kerry was not an ideal candidate but come on! Isn't a politician supposed to be representational; shouldn't we be pleased when the person we've elected to office proposes an idea to the public, receives feedback, and then adjusts the proposition according to public opinion? The Daily Show tonight (in case you didn't see it) turned Bush's "Decider" into a comic book character for whom the slogan was "He's never right, but he sure is decisive!" I'm so retrospectively pissed at the democratic party for breaking under the weight of maligning cries of "flip-flopper" when we should be grateful to have a president with the capacity to adjust his opinion. The scariest thing about this administration is that no one says they're sorry. Another great take on it is at this site if you scroll down to the "If the Bush Administration was your Roommate" series at the bottom: http://www.bushin30seconds.org/150/
I mean honestly, what are people thinking? In what area of your life would you acquiesce to this sort of two-year old level assertion of power? Hopefully, at the very least, this experience will convince people of the importance of flexibility and remorse.
Anyway, I'm really enjoying your posts and also wanted to come by to say HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!@!@!@!!!! Hope you had a great one, and to see you soon. This my favorite of your blogs.
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