Dignity at the White House

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Good for Barbara Boxer. President Bush has been sworn in for another term and Condoleezza Rice is certain to be confirmed as Secretary of State, but for at least a few moments the Democratic senator from California saw fit to challenge the administration’s decision to go to war with Iraq.


“I’m going to show you your words, not my words,” Boxer said during last week’s confirmation hearings. “You sent (troops) in there because of weapons of mass destruction. Later, the mission changed when there were none. I have your quotes on it. I have the president’s quotes on it. And everybody admits it but you that that was the reason for the war ”


Rice did what she typically does in these awkward circumstances when she’s confronted with the truth: she attacked the person delivering the message. Graciously. “Senator, we can have this discussion any way you would like,” she responded. “But I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my dignity.”


Sorry lady, it’s way too late for that. The question is why must Boxer alone be delivering this message? With a Los Angeles Times poll showing 56 percent of those sampled saying Iraq was a bad idea, with our working-class kids dying there every day roughly 1,300 to date with the cost of the war at more than $150 billion, and with the major premise behind the conflict those supposed WMDs having been all but abandoned, why has the indignation behind this horribly misguided initiative been left to a single United States senator?


The reason is both simple and sad. I suspect that many Americans have just given up on Iraq. They know in their heart of hearts that the U.S. military didn’t have much of a post-invasion plan and that by now it’s pretty much a lost cause. But Americans really hate to lose, and if they have to lose, they sure don’t want to dwell on it.


So at this point, how many of us are paying attention to reports of daily car bombings and mortar fire? Is there any sense of national embarrassment that the U.S. has instigated elections in which there has been no campaigning and where the electorate doesn’t know any of the candidates? And who on Earth would want to risk their lives by visiting a polling place and casting their ballot? Is this the kind of freedom Bush had in mind in his inaugural address?


The elections will likely lead to more madness certainly more confusion and U.S. troops will be left trying to keep the various sides from clobbering each other. It may be tempting to pretend that Iraq will just go away or that it’s not affecting us directly, but look at that $150 billion price tag and consider the health care services and roadwork and schools that could have been paid for in this country. Further consider how Iraq has deepened the federal budget deficit that threatens to keep our nation in hock.


Secretary of State-designate Rice is worried about her dignity? Seems she should be worried about a lot more than that.



On a Personal Note


There comes a time in every editor’s life when he’s left trying to jam two pounds of baloney into a one-pound bag. For me, that time is now. With our new Web site and other initiatives, this column has gotten the short end of the bargain. So I’m putting it off to one side for a few months until the dust around here starts to clear. We’ll have a variety of writers filling this space until then.



Mark Lacter is editor of the Business Journal.

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