Marble Composition

You Tell Me

Matt Yglesias over at the TAPPED poses a great question, here:

KNOWING THEN, KNOWING NOW. The headline of this story is Bush's acknowledgment that, yes, lots of Iraqis have gotten killed in his war. But I think this is more significant:

"Knowing what I know today, I'd make the decision again," Bush told a questioner after a speech here. "Removing Saddam Hussein makes this world a better place and America a safer country."

The President has said this before, but I think Democrats and the press alike have failed to give it adequate attention. Tons of time and energy have been spent arguing about the extent to which the administration deliberately misled people about Saddam’s WMD programs, but to a large extent the White House is giving up the game right here. Bush says he would have gone to war anyway. But if the case for war was so solid, whether or not all that stuff about looming mushroom clouds was true, then how come the argument he made in public leaned so heavily on the WMD threat? If Bush really thinks it makes sense to launch "pre-emptive" attacks on countries that even in retrospect lacked the capacity to harm us, then exactly how crazy is he?

Bush never would've been able to convince the American public that bringing democracy to Iraq, or whatever his current re-selling point is, would've justified invading, and I think that's pretty obvious. This reminded me of this little exchange between reporters and John Kerry on the campaign trail last year:

...stopped by reporters. Among the questions asked, "If you knew then what you know now, would you still have voted for the Iraq war resolution?"

KERRY: I'd challenge the president back. But I'm ready for any challenge and I'll answer directly.

Yes, I would have voted for the authority. I believe it's the right authority for a president to have. But I would have used that authority as I have said throughout this campaign, effectively. I would have done this very differently from the way President Bush has.

And my question to President Bush is why did he rush to war without a plan to win the peace?

This came in early August of 2004, so we all knew damn well there were no WMD in Iraq, and this answer absolutely stunned me. Not because I'm an filthy, stinking Liberal, but because the politics of it were so horrible. Democrats, according to public opinion, somehow always seem to be in the toilet when it comes to national security. So, in an attempt to shore up his credentials, trying to look like the tough guy who would go to war anyway, he gives the exact answer that makes him look weak.

Let me explain. If Kerry had emphatically said no, he could've made a stark delineation between the way he and Bush handle national security. He could've said, "Putting war powers in the hands of this administration was a profound mistake, and I was wrong, so no, knowing what we all know now, I would've voted against it". That would've taken the "I voted for the war before I voted against it" silliness off the table completely. It would be a tight rope to walk, but given his comments were made on August 9th, he could've taken the points that the Bush administration led us into an intractable conflict, and can't be trusted to handle our nation's security, and hammered Bush over the head with them for a solid three months. I could go on and on about this, but just one more point: if Kerry wanted to get nasty about it, he could've said that Bush had betrayed the public's trust in the presidency. And that's not even Swift Boat/Rove nasty, not even close.

For me, when Kerry said that, his campaign really took a hit. Not necessarily a noticeable one, but it seemed to me those statements took the wind out of his sails. I have no idea whether my prescription above would've turned the tides in the election, but Americans are willing to forgive politicians that admit mistakes. In addition, admitting you were wrong to vote for a fraud , and showing some backbone at the same time can go a long way.

Instead, well, we have...Crazy.

posted by FuzzFinger @ 12/14/2005 08:11:00 PM