Bush has personalized this war to such an extreme that even if American forces take over all of Iraq and find weapons of mass destruction, the war will not be judged a success unless Saddam is captured or his body is found. It’s a Bush family trait to turn everything into a grudge match. Anybody who crosses Bush gets the treatment. During last fall’s congressional races, Republican operatives likened Democratic leader Tom Daschle to Saddam Hussein because he stood in the way of passing Bush’s legislation. Daschle is again in the crossfire for criticizing Bush’s failure to resolve the impasse over Iraq with diplomacy.
The White House slapped down Daschle and implied he was unpatriotic. “France has a better chance of getting back in Bush’s good graces,” said one official. He called Daschle’s comment “passive-aggressive B.S.” and mused that the senator’s anger might stem from second thoughts over his decision not to run for president. What so offended Bush and his minions was Daschle saying he was “saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn’t create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country.”
“He was saying people are going to die because the president couldn’t get his act together,” fumed the White House official. “Blatant partisan guerilla warfare is fine on taxes and Social Security, but on this one, couldn’t he just save it?” West Virginia octogenarian Robert Byrd who rails against the war on the Senate floor doesn’t offend as much because Byrd couches his criticism in a mannerly history lesson about the Constitution. Daschle’s sniping gets under Bush’s skin. “He has an amazing ability to double deal,” says a White House aide. “He’s so nice in meetings; then he goes out and nails us.”
Daschle has the skills of a good partisan leader, but this time he overstepped. Once it became clear Bush was taking the country to war, anything said that is not supportive of the commander in chief is by definition not helpful politically. Republican Sen. George Allen called Daschle’s words “disgusting.” Few Democrats publicly backed Daschle, and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who is running for president, issued a statement that Bush wasn’t to blame for the war; it’s Saddam Hussein’s fault. “Congress has a role and that is to shut the hell up,” says Bob Boorstin, director of World View Initiative, which studies American attitudes toward U.S. foreign policy. “Anyone who tries to say anything that’s critical will be drawn and quartered.”
Both houses of Congress have passed resolutions in support of American troops. The time for second-guessing had passed, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle readied themselves for what could be a long and bumpy ride. Soon Bush will call on Congress to fund the war with an estimated $90 billion in taxpayer money. “Enjoy the fireworks, because you’re paying for them,” quipped a White House aide. Postwar military occupation and reconstruction could easily double the figure to $200 billion over five years. Knowing the impact on the deficit and not wanting to derail his planned tax cuts, Bush avoided for months putting a dollar figure on the war. His duplicity infuriates Democrats, who see it as part of a pattern. The very week that American men and women are on the front lines fighting a war, the Republican budget calls for cutbacks in veterans’ benefits. Still, Democrats have been unable to peddle Bush’s “credibility gap.” “People are predisposed to trust him on this stuff in a way that’s shocking to many of us,” says a Senate Democratic aide.
The United Nations effort failed in large part because the member nations on the Security Council could see through Bush. They knew this was never a serious diplomatic discussion. Bush was going to war no matter what the U.N. decided. “Anybody who knows the Bush family knows they’re not going to back down,” says a Republican consultant. “End of story.” Bush miscalculated when he assumed other nations would fall into line, but that’s another family trait: it’s called “to the manor born,” or “to the presidency born,” meaning that a family of Bush’s social status that has spawned two presidents assumes if they think it’s right, it’s right. A streak of religiosity further strengthens Bush’s belief in the rightness of his cause, which he initially called a crusade.
As war proceeds, Britain’s Tony Blair is described as hollow-eyed and under mental strain. Bush presents the face of a man with no doubt about the course he has chosen. Asked whether Bush had gone to the White House command center after his short speech Wednesday evening to alert the country that war was underway, a network correspondent noted that the lights were out in the White House residence. He assumed Bush was asleep.
