It has often been said that Bush squandered the goodwill that America had worldwide right after 9/11, but he really squandered so much more than that.
At that moment, he had an opportunity to truly step up to the plate & achieve historical greatness. There was just a glimpse of that, when he spoke into that megaphone at the WTC site, but it disappeared quickly. Somehow, some way, he took that moment, and decided that invading Iraq would be the best response to what had just happened. Taking aggressive action against a country that didn’t attack us, and that same year had been described by both Powell & Rice as contained, and not even a threat to its neighbors.
Did we know for sure that Saddam did not have WMD’s? No. But, he was contained, and as of March of 2003, inspectors were getting unfettered access to all suspected sites. Had we allowed them to continue, we would have determined what, instead, it took us thousands of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and our reputation around the globe to determine: Saddam did not have WMD’s. He was not a threat to us.
Imagine: a half a trillion dollars, spent instead on border security, intelligence, covert operations, surveillance….it boggles the mind.
As Bush picked up the albatross that is Iraq & put it willingly around his neck, everything else that conservatives and the country might have hoped for took a backseat: real tax reform, real social security reform, healthcare oversight, education, immigration. Bush has spent most days since March of 2003 burdened by problems & complications that refuse to go away in Iraq, an effort which we now know has actually made us LESS SAFE in the fight against terrorists.
Instead of becoming the party of fiscal responsibility, sensible national security, tax reform & real conservative principles, the GOP became the party of the Iraq War. The only other issue that they are really identified with now is opposing gay marriage. A whole new generation of voters is being shaped while all of this is happening: we are seeing more Republicans become independents, and more independents becoming Democrats. Far from creating GOP majorities “as far as the eye can see” – Rove’s ultimate vision – Bush is now the “minority maker” who has redefined his party and their prospects for decades to come.
I would submit that it all could have turned out differently, had he truly been great & seized that moment after 9/11, instead of rushing to a war of choice with Iraq. We could be talking about Rove’s everlasting majorities today, and what the Democrats would have to do to come back from the margins of the political process. Instead, I think yesterday was just the beginning of a long, hard road for the GOP.
At that moment, he had an opportunity to truly step up to the plate & achieve historical greatness. There was just a glimpse of that, when he spoke into that megaphone at the WTC site, but it disappeared quickly. Somehow, some way, he took that moment, and decided that invading Iraq would be the best response to what had just happened. Taking aggressive action against a country that didn’t attack us, and that same year had been described by both Powell & Rice as contained, and not even a threat to its neighbors.
Did we know for sure that Saddam did not have WMD’s? No. But, he was contained, and as of March of 2003, inspectors were getting unfettered access to all suspected sites. Had we allowed them to continue, we would have determined what, instead, it took us thousands of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and our reputation around the globe to determine: Saddam did not have WMD’s. He was not a threat to us.
Imagine: a half a trillion dollars, spent instead on border security, intelligence, covert operations, surveillance….it boggles the mind.
As Bush picked up the albatross that is Iraq & put it willingly around his neck, everything else that conservatives and the country might have hoped for took a backseat: real tax reform, real social security reform, healthcare oversight, education, immigration. Bush has spent most days since March of 2003 burdened by problems & complications that refuse to go away in Iraq, an effort which we now know has actually made us LESS SAFE in the fight against terrorists.
Instead of becoming the party of fiscal responsibility, sensible national security, tax reform & real conservative principles, the GOP became the party of the Iraq War. The only other issue that they are really identified with now is opposing gay marriage. A whole new generation of voters is being shaped while all of this is happening: we are seeing more Republicans become independents, and more independents becoming Democrats. Far from creating GOP majorities “as far as the eye can see” – Rove’s ultimate vision – Bush is now the “minority maker” who has redefined his party and their prospects for decades to come.
I would submit that it all could have turned out differently, had he truly been great & seized that moment after 9/11, instead of rushing to a war of choice with Iraq. We could be talking about Rove’s everlasting majorities today, and what the Democrats would have to do to come back from the margins of the political process. Instead, I think yesterday was just the beginning of a long, hard road for the GOP.
