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Swan Song with a Swagger

By Steve Klinger.

Chutzpah has been defined as shameless audacity, as in the man who murdered his parents then threw himself on the mercy of the court because he was an orphan.

George Bush, who is responsible for the death of untold thousands in Iraq and elsewhere, should be on trial for war crimes. He should be on trial for murder. He should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. He should have been impeached, removed from office and disgraced, but instead he gets to smirk his way through the final days of his disastrous presidency, joshing with reporters. And now he has the chutzpah to schedule a farewell address to the nation in prime time (on Thursday) and demand that the networks carry it. On hand will be those he wishes to honor and thank, more accurately described as his co-conspirators. The networks – and America – should pull the plug.

With difficulty, Bush actually fessed up to a few mistakes in his parting press conference on Monday. He thinks the worst thing he did was to hang the Mission Accomplished banner on the aircraft carrier for his May 1, 2003 address to troops on the “end of major combat” in Iraq.  He thinks it was “a disappointment” that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. He thinks he’d have been criticized for having Air Force One land in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, just as he was for simply flying over New Orleans, and that because 30,000 residents were rescued from their rooftops the government response was beyond reproach.  He thinks America doesn’t have an image problem in Europe and the rest of the world. He thinks his administration’s economic performance was fine because there were more good months than bad, and he started with a recession so it’s okay to end with one. He thinks being stubborn is more important than being right.

Out of deference to the office, combined with endemic and congenital Democratic cowardice, Bush is singing his swan song with a swagger. But prime time network television for THIS president’s farewell address? Give me break. I’d rather swallow crushed glass.

It will of course make Jan. 20th all the sweeter, to be rid of the “decider,” who did more damage to the Constitution, the separation of powers, the environment and the economy than any president in memory – and that’s just the domestic side of the debacle. Throw in torture, pre-emptive invasion, extraordinary rendition, ruthless globalism and the arrogance of an empire-building superpower and, for good measure, the militarization of space, and you start to embrace the scope of Bush’s legacy.

Of course, it must also be noted that this nation not only tolerated George Bush but elected him to a second term. Had his strategies been more successful, he would have been credited for his victories and would be leaving office with accolades from many who now condemn him. Just as Bush himself can’t recognize his profound moral failings and remains a prisoner of self-delusion, so most of his critics would gladly look past his lying and misfeasance if only the results had been better.

It’s a little like the saga of Bernard Madoff (except that he was a proficient scoundrel): We curse the son of a bitch, but conveniently forget we fed him our dollars to fulfill our dreams. In a nation of would-be Ponzi schemers, how believable is our scorn? The comparison quickly pales because of Bush’s oaf-like incompetence at the scams he attempted. On the myopic end of history’s perspective, we heap abuse because he failed, not because his value system was corrupt.

That this nation and the world appear to have survived his tenure, wounded and reeling but still with a heartbeat, is testament either to our resilience or the limits his arrogance – probably the former. Regardless, it is reason enough to celebrate the changing of the guard a week from Tuesday.

And it’s probably asking way too much to expect we learned a lesson in the process.

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