Monday, January 28, 2008 at 1:01am
America and the Pinocchio presidency
Column: Left Coast Lions' Den
Last Tuesday my local paper, The San Jose Mercury News, published on Page 15 a story with the following headline: "Study: False statements preceded war." The short article told about a study by the Center for Public Integrity that chronicled 935 false statements made by President Bush and seven top administration officials during the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. Of those false statements, 532 exaggerated the threat posed by the Saddam Hussein regime by claiming the existence of weapons of mass destruction or by affirming a link between Iraq and al-Qaida, even after such ideas had been discredited.
The report provides numerical support for what long has been known: George Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan would all have long noses if they were magic marionettes.
It is a funny time to be an adult in America. Everyone who can vote can remember a time when a fib denying oral sex with a White House intern got a president impeached. A lot seems to have changed in the 10 years since Monica Lewinsky became a household name. Now it seems that a president and his advisers, through false and misleading statements, have led a nation to war without having to face much in the way of personal accountability. Politicians lack the political will to confront the Bush administration's pattern of deceit, and the American street is equally apathetic. Even in Northern California, where the current administration is far from popular, the story of Bushite deceit was buried in the back of the morning paper.
I suspect the general American disinterest in confronting the pattern of falsehood propagated by the Bush Administration may stem from a lack of desire on the part of Americans — both politicians and private citizens — to own up to the ways in which We the People participated in the deceptions.
The uncomfortable truth is that, for as long as the Bush Administration has twisted and spun the truth in support of the war, savvy analysts, journalists and talking heads have been vigilant about setting the record straight. But too few Americans listened to the voices of dissent. Instead, we wrapped ourselves in American flags and questioned the patriotism of those who questioned the wisdom of war.
And remember when the French government was unconvinced by the Bush team's justifications for going to war and didn't join the "Coalition of the Willing"? We smashed bottles of Chateauneuf de Pape and we started eating "Freedom Fries." Turns out the French were right after all and we were wrong.
Sacré bleu, that bites.
The American people have been complicit in the Bush Administration's infidelity to what is real, true and good. We have not demanded honesty from our president. We have not listened to the voices of dissent among us, people whose wisdom could have kept America honest.
But we can change and we should.
Eight years of dishonesty have crippled our nation and have cost us dearly. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of U.S. servicepersons have lost their lives. The American economy is at a breaking point, as untold billions of dollars flow into Mesopotamia. It is long past time for us to come to a reckoning, to acknowledge the deception that has claimed the American soul and to restore that soul to a state of greater grace.
— — —
Ben Daniel is the pastor of Foothill Presbyterian Church in San Jose, Calif. Visit his website or send him an email at {email ben@bendaniel.org}ben@bendaniel.org{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Ben Daniel.
The report provides numerical support for what long has been known: George Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan would all have long noses if they were magic marionettes.
It is a funny time to be an adult in America. Everyone who can vote can remember a time when a fib denying oral sex with a White House intern got a president impeached. A lot seems to have changed in the 10 years since Monica Lewinsky became a household name. Now it seems that a president and his advisers, through false and misleading statements, have led a nation to war without having to face much in the way of personal accountability. Politicians lack the political will to confront the Bush administration's pattern of deceit, and the American street is equally apathetic. Even in Northern California, where the current administration is far from popular, the story of Bushite deceit was buried in the back of the morning paper.
I suspect the general American disinterest in confronting the pattern of falsehood propagated by the Bush Administration may stem from a lack of desire on the part of Americans — both politicians and private citizens — to own up to the ways in which We the People participated in the deceptions.
The uncomfortable truth is that, for as long as the Bush Administration has twisted and spun the truth in support of the war, savvy analysts, journalists and talking heads have been vigilant about setting the record straight. But too few Americans listened to the voices of dissent. Instead, we wrapped ourselves in American flags and questioned the patriotism of those who questioned the wisdom of war.
And remember when the French government was unconvinced by the Bush team's justifications for going to war and didn't join the "Coalition of the Willing"? We smashed bottles of Chateauneuf de Pape and we started eating "Freedom Fries." Turns out the French were right after all and we were wrong.
Sacré bleu, that bites.
The American people have been complicit in the Bush Administration's infidelity to what is real, true and good. We have not demanded honesty from our president. We have not listened to the voices of dissent among us, people whose wisdom could have kept America honest.
But we can change and we should.
Eight years of dishonesty have crippled our nation and have cost us dearly. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of U.S. servicepersons have lost their lives. The American economy is at a breaking point, as untold billions of dollars flow into Mesopotamia. It is long past time for us to come to a reckoning, to acknowledge the deception that has claimed the American soul and to restore that soul to a state of greater grace.
— — —
Ben Daniel is the pastor of Foothill Presbyterian Church in San Jose, Calif. Visit his website or send him an email at {email ben@bendaniel.org}ben@bendaniel.org{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Ben Daniel.