From the ArcaMax Publishing, Arianna Huffington Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/ariannahuffington/s-358295-460278
Seven takes on Scott McClellan's new book:
Take One: What Took You So Long?
In "What Happened," Scott McClellan offers withering portraits of
George Bush, Karl Rove, Condi Rice and Scooter Libby, confirms that we
went to war in Iraq under false pretenses, and that we were serially
lied to about the outing of Valerie Plame.
Interesting stuff, Scott. But about five years too late.
It's George Tenet deja vu all over again. How many times are we going
to have a key Bush administration official try to wash the blood off
his hands -- and add a chunk of change to his bank account -- by
writing a come-clean book years after the fact, pointing the finger at
everyone else while painting himself as an innocent bystander to
history who saw all the horrible things that were happening but,
somehow, had no choice but to go along?
McClellan told the
Great. We need all the openness and honesty we can get. But it would
have been a lot more helpful if he had taken the "opportunity" when it
really mattered -- say before the 2004 election, when it could have
potentially saved thousands of lives.
"What Happened" is page-turning reading. "What Didn't Happen" --
namely McClellan telling the truth in service to his country rather
than in service to his book sales -- is a stomach-turning
disappointment.
Take Two: The Rationale for Iraq is Even Worse Than We Thought
McClellan really lets it rip on Iraq. He says that Bush led a
sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" to sell the war, was not
"open and forthright on Iraq," managed the run-up to war "in a way
that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only
feasible option," "largely ignored or simply disregarded"
contradictory intelligence on the war, and as the war went poorly
responded by "never reflecting, never reconsidering, never
compromising."
McClellan's scathing conclusion: "History appears poised to confirm
what most Americans today have decided: that the decision to invade
Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. No one, including me, can know
with absolute certainty how the war will be viewed decades from now
when we can more fully understand its impact. What I do know is that
war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not
necessary."
Perhaps the most damning revelation regarding Iraq is McClellan's
assertion that the real reason Bush wanted to invade Iraq was the
"opportunity to create a legacy of greatness" by transforming the
Middle East into a land of peace and brotherhood. Over 4,000 dead U.S.
soldiers sacrificed for a neocon wet dream of democratic dominoes
across the region. How chilling is that?
McClellan also tosses in a pinch of Oedipal subtext: "The president
had promised himself that he would accomplish what his father had
failed to do by winning a second term in office. And that meant
operating continually in campaign mode: never explaining, never
apologizing, never retreating."
Such is the stuff foreign policy nightmares are made of.
Take Three: The Press Secretary Presses the Press
McClellan points an accusatory finger at the mainstream media -- he
calls them "enablers" and says they were too easy on the
administration during the selling of the war: "The national press
corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the
administration in regard to the most important decision facing the
nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to
war in Iraq. The collapse of the administration's rationales for war,
which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have
come as such a surprise. . . . In this case, the 'liberal media'
didn't live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have
been better served."
Great point, Scotty. We and many others made it back in 2003.
It's such a great point, it caused Karl Rove to act like something
nefarious has happened to McClellan, transforming him from the
lie-spouting sock puppet he has "known for a long time" into somebody
who "sounds like a left-wing blogger." Have anyone specific in mind,
Karl?
Take Four: Rove More Turd Blossom Than Boy Genius
Speaking of Rove, McClellan's tome continues the obliteration of the
Rove mystique, reminding us what an out-and-out liar Rove was and is
-- more than willing to assure McClellan that he wasn't involved in
the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity when, in fact, he was up to
his ears in the sordid affair, having discussed Plame with Matt Cooper
and Bob Novak in an effort to discredit Joe Wilson.
McClellan also makes it clear that the indelible,
says-all-you-need-to-know-about-this-administration photo of Bush
looking out the window of Air Force One during his too-busy-to-stop
flyover of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina was a Rove special:
"Karl was convinced we needed to do it -- and the president agreed."
Take Five: Truthiness in Government
Stephen Colbert satirized the Bush approach when he coined the concept
of "truthiness": the truth we want, in our gut, to exist, without
regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.
McClellan reveals how much the joke matched the reality, saying that
Bush's "leadership style is based more on instinct than deep
intellectual debate." Citing Bush's assertion that he honestly
couldn't remember if he'd ever done cocaine, McClellan says he felt he
"was witnessing Bush convincing himself to believe something that
probably was not true, and that, deep down, he knew was not true."
But who needs reality when you have faith? Who needs truth when you
have truthiness? As George Costanza put it on Seinfeld: "Jerry, just
remember, it's not a lie if you believe it."
A fantastic philosophy for a sit-com character. A disastrous
philosophy for a sitting president.
Take Six: Truth in Government
According to McClellan, the Secret Service code name for the White
House press secretary was "Matrix."
As any Keanu Reaves fan will tell you, the Matrix is a simulated
reality used to pacify and subdue the human population in a dystopian
future.
Who knew Secret Service agents have such an arch sense of humor?
Take Seven: Heckuva Job, Scotty!
On the day McClellan resigned as press secretary, Bush pictured a time
down the road when he and his former aide would "be rocking on chairs
in Texas, talking about the good old days and his time as the press
secretary. And I can assure you, I will feel the same way then that I
feel now, that I can say to Scott, 'Job well done.'"
Maybe not. Although, since, according to McClellan, Bush "has a way of
falling back on the hazy memory to protect himself from potential
political embarrassment," who knows?
I can already see the blurb on the back of the paperback edition of
"What Happened": "Heckuva job, Scotty!" -- George W. Bush, 43rd
president of the United States
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Arianna Huffington's e-mail address is arianna@huffingtonpost.com.