[Mb-civic] Using Our Fear - Eugene Robinson - Washington Post Op-Ed
William Swiggard
swiggard at comcast.net
Fri Jan 27 04:25:29 PST 2006
Using Our Fear
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, January 27, 2006; A23
Once upon a time we had a great wartime president who told Americans
they had nothing to fear but fear itself. Now we have George W. Bush,
who uses fear as a tool of executive power and as a political weapon
against his opponents.
Franklin D. Roosevelt tried his best to allay his nation's fears in the
midst of an epic struggle against fascism. Bush, as he leads the country
in a war whose nature he is constantly redefining, keeps fear alive
because it has been so useful. His political grand vizier, Karl Rove,
was perfectly transparent the other day when he emerged from wherever
he's been hiding the past few months -- consulting omens, reading
entrails -- and gave the Republican National Committee its positioning
statement for the fall elections: Vote for us or die.
Democrats "have a pre-9/11 worldview" of national security that is
"deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong," Rove said. The clear
subtext was that Americans would court mortal danger by electing
Democrats. Go forth and scare the bejesus out of them, Rove was telling
his party, because the more frightened they are, the better our chances.
To cultivate fear for partisan gain is never a political tactic to be
proud of, but Rove's prescription of naked fearmongering is just plain
reprehensible when the nation faces a shifting array of genuine, serious
threats. This is a moment for ethical politicians -- and, yes, these
days that seems like an oxymoron -- to speak honestly about what dangers
have receded, what new dangers have emerged, and how the imperatives of
liberty and security can be balanced.
From the likes of Rove, I guess, we shouldn't expect anything more
noble than win-at-all-costs. But we do have the right to expect more
from the president of the United States, and while Bush gives off none
of Rove's Sith-lord menace, he has made the cultivation of fear a
hallmark of his governance.
At his news conference yesterday, Bush was asked again about the
domestic surveillance he has ordered the National Security Agency to
conduct without seeking warrants -- a program that seems to violate the
law. In his meandering answer, the president kept throwing in the phrase
"to protect the American people." I suspect that's a line that tests
well in focus groups, but it doesn't really say anything. The fact that
we expect any president to protect us does not obviate the fact that we
expect any president to obey the law.
Bush mentioned the new tape from Osama bin Laden that surfaced the other
day, calling it a reminder that we face "an enemy that wants to hit us
again." That's certainly true, but the warning would carry more gravitas
if Bush and his administration didn't brag so much about how thoroughly
al Qaeda has been routed and decimated. Is anybody keeping track of how
many "No. 3" or "No. 4" al Qaeda lieutenants U.S. forces claim to have
eliminated?
And Americans would be better able to measure the threat from bin Laden
if Bush and the rest of his administration didn't argue -- when it gives
them an edge -- that Iraq is the "central front in the war on
terrorism." If Iraq is the main event, then bin Laden, huddled in some
cave in northern Pakistan, must be just a sideshow, right? But of course
he's not a sideshow, he's the author of the Sept. 11 attacks, so what
does that make Iraq? The answer seems to depend on whether, at any given
time, Bush believes that cultivating fear of bin Laden or stoking fear
of a terrorist spawning ground in Iraq would better help his
administration achieve its ends.
The thing is, fear works. The administration successfully invoked the
fear of "mushroom clouds" to win support, or at least acquiescence, for
the invasion of Iraq. By the time it was clear there were no weapons of
mass destruction, the fear of losing to terrorists on the "central
front" had been given primacy. We stopped hearing the name bin Laden so
often -- no need to bring attention to the fact that he remained at
large -- until reports emerged of secret CIA prisons, torture and
domestic spying.
Bin Laden does remain a threat. He would hit the United States again if
he could. We do expect the president to protect us. But a great wartime
leader rallies his citizens by informing them and inspiring them. He
certainly doesn't use threats to our national security for political
gain. He doesn't just point at a map and say "Boo."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012601478.html
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