Matter of Importance

Talking Points Memo by Joshua Micah Marshall

This dissection of President Bush's moral cowardice strikes me as spot-on, and if John Kerry adopts this as his modus operandi for framing everything that Bush has done since becoming president, I think he wins in a walk.

I've been thinking about how much this election matters to me quite a bit lately. My friend Paul wrote something in an e-mail the other day that I think bears repeating: "The real reason I don't want [Bush] to win is that it's fundamentally against what I teach my kids and what I grew up believing. Namely that if you are a genuine, compassionate person most of the time and do the right thing within the rules, your reward will be greater than that of those who manipulate and lie and act selfishly. Basically, Bush winning upsets my whole worldview."

That statement may not fully explain the anger at Bush that so many people today feel, but it seems like a good start to me. Beyond his policies, beyond his henchmen, beyond his personal idiosyncrasies that drive his detractors crazy, there's this nagging feeling that Bush is running around the country claiming to be every good thing that his administration is not. From the very beginning, he trumpeted himself as a compassionate conservative. Translation: I'll spend less than a Democrat, but no one will get hurt as a result. The real result, of course, bears so little resemblance to that promise that it sounds like a joke--and indeed, that's how focus groups sometimes react to a straightforward description of a Bush policy: They don't believe it. The results of Bush policy are 180 degrees from the compassionate conservatism he sold: less jobs, less help for those who need it, and far more spending. He manipulated the electorate with a catchy slogan, lied about the impact of his tax cuts, and selfishly handed our nation's surplus--and, with it, our future fiscal footing--to his biggest campaign contributors.

Because all of this is true, any way you spin it, and because his administration has quietly but effectively worked to change regulations that protect workers (the overtime law, ergonomics rules), the environment (Clear Skies Initiative, anyone? Kyoto?), and consumers from the excesses of the titans of capitalism, and because he also wishes to rewrite both the tax code and the social contract to reflect a "money belongs with the rich" philosophy that values wealth but not work--because of all this, the fact that Bush still stands a chance this November, and will almost certainly garner nearly 50 million votes, does more than upset me. It forces me to question the wisdom of everyone around me. On what grounds does someone argue for another four years of this? How can there be 50 million people who will show up on November 2 and pull the lever for this man and for the policies he's shown himself to favor? How can America even be contemplating another four years of motives so vile they can be hidden in plain sight because no one will believe them when they're discovered? Is this what we want our children to learn?

And have no doubt, they will learn. They'll learn that if you lie big enough no one can call you on it, and that if your ideas sound crazy or craven enough, no one will believe you think them, no matter what the evidence says. They'll learn that when you win, no matter what tactics you use to win, even if you call a hero a terrorist, your first priority should be to collect what's due to you--and you should never worry about those you've defeated. They'll learn that you should never, ever, ever apologize for anything. They'll learn that if you pretend to be something people like, you can sneak through all manner of things of which those people would never approve if they had the time to understand them. These are not just the ingredients of a bad citizen--they're the makings of a disobedient and dreadful child. Is that really the choice 50 million Americans want to make again, knowing now what we could not know then, that this man who claimed to be a compassionate conservative would turn out to be a role model for spoiled brats everywhere? If it is, well, that really upsets my worldview.