Heart of Dimness

Stupidity and arrogance are responsible for the American failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Iraq war can be attributed directly to the blood lust of the administration's cowardly war profiteers. However, the most damaging miscalculations were the unintentional and inevitable consequences of their scorched-earth approach to selling the war to an (initially) skeptical public. This administration consistently ignored, ridiculed, attacked, and fired (when possible) the experts -- Brent Scowcroft (Sr. Bush's National Security Advisor), Richard Clark (bipartisan counterterrorism expert),Eric Shinseki (US Army General who called for more troops), "empty" Hans Blix (UN WMD searcher), etc.. The administration's own disciples have been rewarded for following directions and quietly presiding over an evolving disaster. The administration cynically believes that awarding (and debasing) the Medal of Freedom to Brenner, Franks, and Tenet can obscure their roles in the miserable failures.

Similarly, the advertising campaign (better known as the election) vilified and ridiculed Bush's opponents. This was supposed to be the better business administration, directed by a chief executive who, though weak on detail and prone to malaprop, had a heart of gold and a vision born of 9/11. Instead, what we've got is the big business administration -- bloated budgets, deep deficits -- with a leader who embodies the worst of CEO detachment. Bush is seemingly content with incompetence and could not communicate a vision even if his teleprompter displayed text handed down on holy scrolls.

After 5 years of relentless and rapacious self interest, enormous immorality, and financial incompetence, even the occasionally blundering Democratic pandering to special interests looks pretty attractive.