Nothing is ever the president's fault
By Reggie Rivers
DenverPost.com
Each new Bush administration story reminds me of the scene in the movie "Good Will Hunting," when Robin Williams' character, a counselor, has a breakthrough with Matt Damon's character.
"It's not your fault," Williams says over and over to the brilliant but troubled Will Hunting, whose overly aggressive, angry, self-destructive behavior constantly lands him in trouble. Hearing that it was not his fault, Hunting eventually breaks down, sobbing uncontrollably. He's finally on the path to redemption.
In America's version of this drama, President Bush lacks Hunting's brilliance but he's got the aggression and destruction mastered. He insults, dismisses, attacks, denies and disappears - usually to his ranch in Texas, where he has so far spent 20 percent of his presidency on vacation.
This week, Bush bypassed the Senate and appointed controversial figure John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton had been the subject of five months of debate in the Senate, because many people suspected he manipulated intelligence prior to the war in Iraq when he was the undersecretary of state for arms control.
Rather than turn over requested documents that might have exonerated Bolton or nominate a different candidate, Bush decided to wait until the congressional session ended and install Bolton through an infrequently used provision that allows the president to make recess appointments.
Bush's critics have charged him with abandoning the political process and misusing a process that was designed for emergencies, not controversies. But Bush doesn't worry about his critics. Instead, he focuses on his supporters, who always give him absolution.
"It's not your fault," they've told Bush. The blame, they say, lies with partisan Democrats who held up Bolton's appointment. Bush had no choice but to ignore the Senate.
So far, nothing in Bush's 4 1/2 years in office has been his fault. He's either been ignorant of problems that developed within his administration or he was forced by outside groups to take drastic action.
It wasn't his fault that an impostor kept the Denver 3 from attending a March town hall meeting at the Wings Over the Rockies museum or that the Secret Service has refused to identify the man. It wasn't Bush's fault that his adviser, Karl Rove, was involved in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
The intelligence failures prior to Sept. 11 weren't Bush's fault. Neither was the bad intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. It wasn't his fault that he insulted and alienated U.S. allies who demanded proof of Iraq's guilt prior to the war.
The abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison weren't his fault, nor was the establishment of an extralegal camp at Guantanamo Bay where Bush abandoned the Geneva Convention. A few rogue soldiers committed all the abuses, and the terrorists created the need for Guantanamo Bay.
It's not Bush's fault that there was no post-war plan in Iraq. Nor can he be blamed for our skyrocketing national debt, budget deficits and war costs. He can't be blamed for the more than 1,800 U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq; the insurgents bear responsibility for that.
In the movie, the counselor said "It's not your fault" to Hunting exactly 10 times, and it worked, because deep down, Will Hunting believed that his miserable childhood and the actions of his abusive father were his fault.
President Bush has been absolved more times than we can count, but he's never going to have a moment of introspective clarity, because the public is only confirming what he already believes about himself. Nothing is ever his fault.
So why not start a war? Why not cover up for Rove? Why not ignore the Senate and appoint Bolton? Why not take another vacation? His supporters will never blame him for anything, so Bush may as well do whatever he wants.
AND Bush ignored the pleas of civil engineers, army corp of engineers, the City of New Orleans for funds to shore up the levees. But it's not his fault. |
