2008 Woodie Awards
Welcome to Bush Tour 2006
Matthea Daughtry
Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: Opinions
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It is clear from recent events that the Bush administration is on the defense. While continuing to play hardball about their stance in Iraq and the War on Terror, declining approval rates made it clear that the President was due for a makeover. The president in the past month has been making an obvious effort to shed a bit of the renegade cowboy image and move in a different direction. From speeches around the country to summer reading lists, Bush had been making the rounds and his support staff of cronies has been there to chime in on the Bush tour 2006.
The main focus of these recent appearances have been the fifth anniversary of 9/11, which he continues to beat to the point of a dead horse in hopes of reviving his national support. Everything has been carefully planned out and has been described as "the clock strategy." The clock strategy is an attempt to reset the clock back to before the Iraq invasion when Bush had a much easier time portraying the rugged commander in chief.
In a recent New York Times article, Dan Bartlett, a counselor to the president, said that these recent and upcoming appearances were for a moment of remembrance and not for politics. Still, it is hard to take that comment seriously when we are only nine weeks away from a midterm election in which the GOP stands to lose control of the Congress. Also, the tone and message that the Bush administration has been taking is far from being apolitical. Everything that has been said recently seems more like a campaign to undermine both the Democrats and anyone who speaks out against the war.
The most offensive example of this was Donald Rumsfeld's recent speech at the American Legion in Salt Lake City. In his speech, Rumsfeld warned that any dissent regarding Iraq and the War on Terror would weaken the country: "Any kind of moral and intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can severely weaken the ability of free societies to persevere." Claiming the lessons of history, Rumsfeld made parallels to 1930's fascist Germany: " I recount this history because once again we face the same kind of challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism." The defense secretary went as far as comparing critics of the war as similar to Nazi appeasers.
The main focus of these recent appearances have been the fifth anniversary of 9/11, which he continues to beat to the point of a dead horse in hopes of reviving his national support. Everything has been carefully planned out and has been described as "the clock strategy." The clock strategy is an attempt to reset the clock back to before the Iraq invasion when Bush had a much easier time portraying the rugged commander in chief.
In a recent New York Times article, Dan Bartlett, a counselor to the president, said that these recent and upcoming appearances were for a moment of remembrance and not for politics. Still, it is hard to take that comment seriously when we are only nine weeks away from a midterm election in which the GOP stands to lose control of the Congress. Also, the tone and message that the Bush administration has been taking is far from being apolitical. Everything that has been said recently seems more like a campaign to undermine both the Democrats and anyone who speaks out against the war.
The most offensive example of this was Donald Rumsfeld's recent speech at the American Legion in Salt Lake City. In his speech, Rumsfeld warned that any dissent regarding Iraq and the War on Terror would weaken the country: "Any kind of moral and intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can severely weaken the ability of free societies to persevere." Claiming the lessons of history, Rumsfeld made parallels to 1930's fascist Germany: " I recount this history because once again we face the same kind of challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism." The defense secretary went as far as comparing critics of the war as similar to Nazi appeasers.
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