Loosing the War of Subtlety
In Michael Moore's new movie Sicko he tries to take workers from the ground zero work site for treatment at Guantanamo Bay military base. The point Moore is trying to make is: If the government can give terror suspects health care, dental care, and access to nutritionists why can't they give the same consideration to workers who sacrificed their health to repair the wound to our nation after 9/11? The question is a valid one. Moore, or course, asks the question with his usual circus act flair using a boat and a megaphone floating of the coast of Cuba. Moore is a master at using his adversaries strengths against them. The Bush administration is pursuing criminal charges against Moore for infringement on the Cuban embargo that our government put in place so many years ago. This hard line stance is giving Moore's movie just the kind of attention that he was looking for. Moore is a propaganda warrior, the liberal Rush Limbaugh, but unlike Limbaugh, Michael Moore has been able to break beyond his core audience to influence the thoughts of the greater public at large. The person he needs to thank for this fact, more than anyone else, is George W. Bush.
Bush wants to frame himself in the image and the times of FDR. Roosevelt fought WWII through opposition at home, failed policies, military blunders and huge loss of life and equipment. WWII was won through the use of tanks in Africa, planes and personnel in Europe and Navy ships and nuclear bombs in Japan. FDR's courage in war time was like that of Lincoln's. They both prevailed in the conflicts of their times by believing that success could be achieved by using the full power of the country's military might and never compromising to the enemy. To believe that the war on terror can be won in a similar way is simplistic, wishful thinking that at this very moment is failing our country.
Everyone else in the world, including Bin Laden and his terrorist network, knows that this is a war about perception and expression of ideals. Far too often the Bush administration has let itself be baited into tossing aside the beliefs of diplomatic compromise and rule of law to try to achieve short sited goals of bullied victory. Scooter Libby is now paying the price for just such a miscalculation of the use of heavy tactics against someone critical to the administration. Someone in the administration outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent believing that in doing so would silence the voice of her husband Joe Wilson who disputed WMD claims by the Whitehouse. The Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez is all but incapable of performing his duties in the justice department thanks to the political maneuverings of himself and the political wing of the administration. They thought they could manipulate the system through by-passing of the rule of law. They threw away the ideals of justice for a hope of a short term victory against those that would disagree with their policies of aggressive attacks on the civil liberties of our own citizens. They polarized the Islamic community by creating an us verses them conflict that played right into the hands of the terrorist movement. The fear that they created in this country to keep themselves in office now serves only to embolden those that would unit against the United States as a counter to our superpower status. By making the President of Iran a villainous figure we have provided him with more stature than he deserves.
The Bush administration has proved itself a bull in a china shop. This world is full of delicate political structures that the administration seems to be oblivious to. Many people, Michael Moore included, are very skilled at the use of red flags to pull this bull in any direction they please. Russia, China, Iran, all seem to be getting what they want by baiting the President into acting the tough guy again and again. It is my belief that FDR would never have let himself or his government be so manipulated or controlled by his adversaries. The fact that the administration can let itself be so manipulated by an unhealthy, overweight film maker, lecturing the rest of us about health care, is the best example I have seen of the Presidents utter failure to understand the modern world. No wonder he wishes he was back in the less complicated days of FDR.
Bush wants to frame himself in the image and the times of FDR. Roosevelt fought WWII through opposition at home, failed policies, military blunders and huge loss of life and equipment. WWII was won through the use of tanks in Africa, planes and personnel in Europe and Navy ships and nuclear bombs in Japan. FDR's courage in war time was like that of Lincoln's. They both prevailed in the conflicts of their times by believing that success could be achieved by using the full power of the country's military might and never compromising to the enemy. To believe that the war on terror can be won in a similar way is simplistic, wishful thinking that at this very moment is failing our country.
Everyone else in the world, including Bin Laden and his terrorist network, knows that this is a war about perception and expression of ideals. Far too often the Bush administration has let itself be baited into tossing aside the beliefs of diplomatic compromise and rule of law to try to achieve short sited goals of bullied victory. Scooter Libby is now paying the price for just such a miscalculation of the use of heavy tactics against someone critical to the administration. Someone in the administration outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent believing that in doing so would silence the voice of her husband Joe Wilson who disputed WMD claims by the Whitehouse. The Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez is all but incapable of performing his duties in the justice department thanks to the political maneuverings of himself and the political wing of the administration. They thought they could manipulate the system through by-passing of the rule of law. They threw away the ideals of justice for a hope of a short term victory against those that would disagree with their policies of aggressive attacks on the civil liberties of our own citizens. They polarized the Islamic community by creating an us verses them conflict that played right into the hands of the terrorist movement. The fear that they created in this country to keep themselves in office now serves only to embolden those that would unit against the United States as a counter to our superpower status. By making the President of Iran a villainous figure we have provided him with more stature than he deserves.
The Bush administration has proved itself a bull in a china shop. This world is full of delicate political structures that the administration seems to be oblivious to. Many people, Michael Moore included, are very skilled at the use of red flags to pull this bull in any direction they please. Russia, China, Iran, all seem to be getting what they want by baiting the President into acting the tough guy again and again. It is my belief that FDR would never have let himself or his government be so manipulated or controlled by his adversaries. The fact that the administration can let itself be so manipulated by an unhealthy, overweight film maker, lecturing the rest of us about health care, is the best example I have seen of the Presidents utter failure to understand the modern world. No wonder he wishes he was back in the less complicated days of FDR.
posted by kamuizot at 4:38 PM
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