Back in 2000, George W. Bush made "personal responsibility" one of his
campaign themes. Everybody understood that the phrase had two meanings:
first, the traditional Republican one of disciplining unruly children,
whiny
minorities, complaining women, indolent workers and lesser breeds outside
the country club; second, an implied vow to keep his pants on in the
Oval
Office. Only in the third year of President Junior’s court-appointed
term do
we learn that it has another meaning as well: When Bush says he takes
"personal responsibility" for something, it means he’s run out of phony
alibis,
so sit down and shut up.
Dutifully headlined "Bush Takes Responsibility for Iraq Claims" by The
Washington Post, here’s the entire exchange from the White House transcript
of the president’s press conference:
"Q. Mr. President, you often speak about the need
for accountability in many areas.
I wonder then, why is Dr. Condoleezza Rice not
being held accountable for the
statement that your own White House has acknowledged
was a mistake in your
State of the Union address regarding Iraq’s attempts
to purchase uranium?
And also, do you take personal responsibility
for that inaccuracy?
" THE PRESIDENT: I take personal responsibility
for everything I say, of
course. Absolutely. I also take responsibility
for making decisions on war
and peace. And I analyzed a thorough body of
intelligence—good, solid, sound
intelligence—that led me to come to the conclusion
that it was necessary to
remove Saddam Hussein from power. "We gave the
world a chance to do it. We
had—remember there’s—again, I don’t want to get
repetitive here, but it’s
important to remind everybody that there was
12 resolutions that came out of
the United Nations because others recognized
the threat of Saddam Hussein.
Twelve times the United Nations Security Council
passed resolutions in
recognition of the threat that he posed. And
the difference was, is that
some were not willing to act on those resolutions.
We were—along with a lot
of other countries—because he posed a threat.
" Dr. Condoleezza Rice is an honest, fabulous
person. And America is lucky
to have her service. Period. "
Even a legendary shirker like Junior could hardly avoid taking responsibility
for
what came out of his own mouth. But he could barely hide his annoyance
at the
reporter’s impertinence. Imagine if the question had been put to him
as sharply
as Bob Somerby suggested on his Daily Howler Web site:
"Mr. President, we have been told that Dr. Condoleezza Rice did not
read last
October’s National Intelligence Estimate and therefore did not know
that the
State Department doubted the claim that Iraq sought uranium in Africa.
We’re also
told that she didn’t read CIA memos on this subject. Are you concerned
when
your national security adviser is so poorly informed on such a subject?
And do
you now believe what you said in your State of the Union—that Saddam
Hussein
‘recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa’?"
Of course, nobody believes the good doctor failed to do her homework.
The White House simply enlisted the smaller falsehood in service of
the larger
one. In a courtroom, Bush’s answers would be called non-responsive.
He
trotted out the same "12 resolutions" and "sound intelligence" over
and
over, as if they trumped the facts on the ground.
There were, of course, no U. N. resolutions calling for "regime change."
If we had a press corps instead of a band of celebrity courtiers, somebody
would have asked him how he could send American soldiers to kill and
die in
Iraq without reading, as the White House says he did not, the 90-page
National Intelligence Estimate. Exactly what, then, did he study before
parroting Tony Blair’s hysterical warning that Saddam could strike
within
45 minutes?
Bush told us that not to invade and occupy Iraq would be tantamount
to
"national suicide." Now he says he’s confident documents will prove
that
Saddam had "weapons programs." Hardly the same thing. He has faith
that
documents will also prove the Iraqi dictator’s "links" to al-Qa’ida,
another
inflammatory charge that The Washington Post reports the National
Intelligence Estimate he failed to read contradicted.
From a purely psychological point of view, the most fascinating aspect
of a
Bush press conference is watching this under-qualified aristocrat veer
from
mild panic to smug arrogance within a few sentences. Here’s another
example
of Bush-style "personal responsibility."
Why aren’t his economic policies producing jobs? Try to believe your
president said this: "Remember on our TV screens—I’m
not suggesting
which network did this—but it said, ‘ March to
War,’ every day from
last summer until the spring —‘ March to War,
’ ‘March to War.’
That’s not a very conducive environment for people
to take risk,
when they hear, ‘March to War ’ all the time."
And whose fault was that? Anybody but Junior’s.