Ira
Smolensky
A kick in the pants
As
this is being written, Americans are mulling over President BushÕs Ònew way
forwardÓ in Iraq.
As
indicated by polls, the president no longer inspires great national confidence. For some of us, he never did. For many others, the presidentÕs poor
judgment has come as a bitter revelation.
Still,
for the sake of Americans and Iraqis both, we can all hope that there is a way
to make things better.
And,
while we are seeking such a solution, we should also be asking how we got
ourselves into this mess and can avoid doing so in the future.
There
is no shortage of explanations.
Some
blame it on bad leaders. I would
say that bad leadership suggests bad followers as well. Others blame the system—our tired-out
political parties, crassly uninformative elections, and/or the predominance of narrow
interests over the general good.
While
I think all these perspectives are valid, I want to focus here on the role
arrogance has played in the current debacle, and how such arrogance might be
addressed in the future.
That
arrogance has been a big part of the formula for failure is beyond
dispute. The simple truth is that
the Bush administration has exuded a noxious aura of arrogance ever since launching
the war in Iraq became politically viable in the drunken aftermath of 9-11.
War
critics within the U.S., recalcitrant foreign allies, and basically anyone who
did not accept the administrationÕs view of the matter, hook, line, and sinker,
have been singled out for ridicule right from the start. Opponents of the war, even now, are
accosted as appeasers who are weak on terrorism and who fail to realize that ÒlosingÓ
the war will ÒhauntÓ the U.S. for decades.
Well,
itÕs time to face up to it. No
matter what happens from now on, the war in Iraq will haunt us. No compassionate and/or rational
citizen of the U.S. could fail to be haunted by the carnage over which we have
presided— with tens of thousands of innocents slaughtered, maimed, and
made homeless while under our protection, and our troops put into a deadly
situation where the distinction between friends and enemies can make the best
of us paranoid.
All
this has occurred because of arrogant policies made by arrogant leaders, leaders
who were (and perhaps still are) too sure of themselves to listen to valid
criticism—criticism of the warÕs perceived and actual legitimacy,
nation-building assumptions, and other key strategic (as well as tactical)
details.
So
how do we make sure this sad turn of events does not get repeated?
IÕm
sure there are many sophisticated solutions that future commissions will
present to us with great pomp and earnestness—constitutional amendments,
new cabinet departments, a revised war powers act, etc.
What
I want to suggest is rather less sophisticated—and much easier to
implement.
I
propose making a brief addition to the inauguration ceremony in which the
president elect is given an unceremonious and very hard kick in the pants for
the sake of humility.
In
my view, a carefully aimed kick in the pants might well have had a sobering
effect on President Bush, reminding him that even he, in all his grandiose
magnificence, suffers from human frailties, including biases, clouded judgment,
stubbornness, and denial.
As
such, the president might have thought better than embarking on the Iraq
fiasco. He might even have been
better prepared for 9-11.
It
must be admitted that my proposal is not without a kink or two. First, it was pointed out to me by a
friend that, given the circumstances of his presidency, it would be
insufficient to merely administer a kick in the pants to George Bush. Vice-President Dick Cheney and former
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are both just as arrogant as the president,
and they probably did more to shape the Iraq war than the president did. Thus, they, too, would need to be
kicked in the pants. This, of
course, brings up problems of age and health that must be taken into
account. As for Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, I donÕt even want to go there.
My
friend also pointed out that it was quite possible that Illinois Senator Barack
Obama might be the next president we inaugurate.
ÒHeÕs
a humble guy,Ó my friend said. ÒI donÕt think he needs a kick in the pants.Ó
I
had to agree.
Oh
well, back to the drawing board.
2/1/07