Springfield is a Foreign Capital

The Global Test - It's called reality

William Saletan really nails Bush this morning. His campaign is trying to make hay with John Kerry's comment that he'd make sure a war passed the global test by pretending that Kerry means he'd offer veto power over foreign policy to the French. But that's clearly not what he meant, and Saletan gets what Bush is really trying to achieve. Kerry's suggestion of a global test means that when you go to war, it should be for reasons that others can see; that applies whether those others are in France or in Ohio. America should be able to make its case compellingly to whomever might want to understand our rationale. We're going to war, after all; shouldn't there be some justification for doing so?

No, according to Bush. Here's Saletan:

Listen to Bush's words again. "The president's job is not to take an international poll," he says. "Our national security decisions will be made in the Oval Office, not in foreign capitals." Bush doesn't say these decisions belong to the United States. He says they belong to the Oval Office. He frames this as patriotism, boasting that he doesn't care whether he offers evidence sufficient to convince people in France. He shows no awareness or concern that evidence is also necessary to convince people in Ohio. He says it isn't his job to take a "poll," to hear what others think. He needs no validation.

Well, ain't that the truth? In fact, it's so good you should read the next two stanzas of Saletan's poem:

Bush pretends he's just blowing off the French. But his comments show a pattern of blowing off external feedback in general. He shrugs off information that debunks his claims about WMD, arguing that it's more important for a president to understand the overall nature of the world. He defines credibility as agreement with himself. He reinterprets evidence of policy mistakes in postwar Iraq as evidence of success. In Thursday's debate, he dismissed unwelcome reports from that country as too offensive to heed. And according to Sunday's New York Times, he and his aides exaggerated Iraq's nuclear capability, ignoring warnings from "the government's foremost nuclear experts."

Bush claims he has done all this to protect you. But that claim is precisely what's challenged by the evidence he conceals or disregards. What he's protecting you from is the ability to measure his assertions against the world that you and I can see. That's the global test he's mocking. And he expects you to applaud him for it, because he thinks you resent the French so much you'd rather have a president accountable to no one.

Considering all of this, it's hard to believe that we were all worried about how Kerry would do in a debate on foreign policy. America is waking up, folks. (And by folks, I don't mean a group of terrorists. Only Bush would use such a word in such a way.) The most recent two polls show Kerry up or tied. Expect tonight's ABC poll to put him on top as well. And start thinking about the fact that three months from now, the Bushes might be packing their stuff for a long trip back to Texas.