Knowing the answer is no, Bush sounded alternately resolute and sorrowful about what lies ahead. He recognizes that lives are at stake on both sides of the conflict, yet he grew defiant when asked if he would back away from calling a vote in the Security Council if he failed to muster the necessary support. “No matter what the whip count is, we’re going for the vote,” he said. “You bet. It’s time for people to show their cards, let people know where they stand when it comes to Saddam.”
It’s unusual for Bush to face reporters for an extended period of questioning. But with world opinion hardening against a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Bush needed a high-profile forum to counter the growing impression that he is taking the country into a war that nobody wants. There was nothing new in what Bush presented. He repeated familiar sound bites about the need to disarm Saddam before he strikes with weapons of mass destruction. Linking Saddam to Al Qaeda-type terrorist groups, he vowed to “smoke ’em out one at a time.”
Bush used the reporters as props, not really answering their questions.
Instead, he delivered snippets of speeches he has given before about the danger of the Iraqi regime. At one point he quipped, “I’m reading from a script.” Bush advisors have worried that he looks too glib and uncaring on the eve of war, so his remarks were sprinkled with references to his distaste for war and his respect for innocent Iraqi lives. Told that Sen. Ted Kennedy said his “obsession” with Saddam Hussein was making the country less safe, Bush responded, “My job is to protect America.” He reminded Americans 11 times in the nearly hourlong session of the horrors of September 11, saying, “I’m not willing to take that chance again.”
The administration’s latest public-relations push began with Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech Wednesday discrediting Iraq’s dismantling of missiles as bogus. Powell said the United States has intelligence that shows Iraq ordering new missiles, a charge that Bush repeated in his press conference. Blix has said the administration has not shared any of this information with the weapons inspectors, complicating their jobs and undermining the inspections. Bush treats the international community as an annoying lesser partner he can roll at will. The result is the same at home and abroad: a loss of allies. “People feel bludgeoned by him,” says a Democratic aide. And Congress gets about as much respect from the Bush White House as the French.
Administration officials are close-lipped and arrogant, trusting nobody and shutting out all but the most loyal insiders. “He could have won so much goodwill on the war if he trimmed his sails a bit on the tax cut or asked the rich to pay a little more for the war,” says a Senate Republican. “But it’s not in the man’s nature, or Karl Rove’s calculation.” At Rove’s direction, Bush has skillfully used the war to advance conservative policies that in normal times would not survive legislative scrutiny. A cartoon in the Washington Post captures the mood: “Here we go again, the focus groups, the positioning, the fundraising … It would be simpler if we just allowed for the direct election of the political advisor.”
The people surrounding Bush say that if he wins this war he’ll be king of the Hill with political capital to push his agenda. Democrats anticipated a national unity government after 9-11, but Rove calculates Bush doesn’t win anything by crafting deals with Democrats. Rove believes Democrats who challenge a popular wartime president will self-destruct on cultural issues and foreign policy. “Every time Karl hears a speech by Howard Dean, he smiles,” says a Republican strategist. “Every time Democrats applaud Al Sharpton, Karl celebrates.”
Bush overreached on the world stage, believing no nation would dare defy the lone superpower. Republicans on Capitol Hill fell prey to a similar unbridled arrogance when they attached a host of special-interest tax breaks to a bill extending tax relief to members of the military. Among the egregious provisions was one to eliminate a 30 percent tax on foreigners who gamble on American horseracing. Another would eliminate a 10 percent excise tax on fishing-tackle boxes, costing the Treasury $30 million over the next 10 years. A Senate Republican called it “legislative pornography.” Shamed by the publicity, House Republicans withdrew the bill. “You’re not allowed to have a Christmas tree during Lent,” says Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank.
Asked about the costs of war and its aftermath, Bush said he would “present it in the form of a supplemental” to Congress. With deficits already more than $300 billion and no provision included for war, it is folly for Bush to pretend he’s Churchill, who understood that war requires sacrifice. For Bush, war has become a license to pillage the home front.
