Bush Enters the “Malaise” Phase
January 17, 2007
Bush is now in the “malaise” phase of his Presidency.
“There’s a lot of weariness in this country,” he told Jim Lehrer. People “see the terrible images of violence on TV every night. I mean we’ve got a fantastic economy here in the United States, but yet, when you think about the psychology the country, it is somewhat down because of this war.”
No wonder. Bush himself admitted to the NewsHour that his old military strategy in Iraq could be defined as “a slow failure.” Funny, I thought he had said, just a few months ago, that we were winning there.
Bush also bemoaned the fact that “there’s some pessimism and some skepticism here in Washington.”
Well, why wouldn’t there be?
Bush has not announced a strategy that holds out any realistic hope for success. He’s ensnared the U.S. military in the midst of a civil war, which he said previously he would not do. He told Lehrer, “We better help this government stop the sectarian violence.” That sure sounds like policing a civil war to me.
And he has no idea when he can bring the troops home.
“I would like very much at some point in time to have fewer U.S. troops,” he said. “But there is no timetable to do this on.”
Bush insisted again that failure is not an option in Iraq. The logic of that stance is that if the extra troops aren’t doing the job, Bush will have to send more.
On the Lehrer show, he kept trying to scare the public by repeatedly mentioning Al Qaeda, and Iran, and nuclear weapons, and oil, but the American people are on to him now.
It’s not their weariness or malaise, it’s his megalomania, it’s his obtuseness, that is the problem.