Licking the wounds of 2004
While the conspiracy theories about the outcome of last year’s elections continue even now, much of the crowd who wished John Kerry victory have retreated into a gloomy - if not hostile - anger towards their fellow Americans who returned George Bush to the highest office in the land. Most of the reaction has been predictable, although the San Francisco Chronicle once again outdid itself with a two-day, multi-page spread quoting the reflections of Bay Area artists who overwhelmingly just happened to be opposed to Bush. Their level of vitriol towards Bush and the electorate graduated to an unimaginably higher level of hyperbole, though this should surprise no one. The creator of the website punkvoter.com displayed an especially high intensity of froth with the pronouncement that anyone he hears in San Francisco who dares to speak with a Southern accent receives an exhortation from him to go back where they came from, and that they are unwelcome in the good old ultra-tolerant city by the Bay.So much for not judging people based on outward appearances, but it’s the inward appearances that really ignite the flames of this super-blue region. Accusations presented as accepted truths by the cognoscenti such as “Iraq had no connection to Al-Qaeda”, “Bush disregarded the Geneva Conventions”, and of course, “Bush has led an assault on civil liberties” are doled out just as though they were factual statements. These assumptions masquerading as proven fact tip the scales of reality into fantasy, which is much easier for many to accept than the established numbers of voters who just said “Yes” to Bush.
It’s not difficult to understand this motivation; after all, who among us doesn’t wish for simple solutions to problems in the Middle East? The desire to elect John Kerry was to a great extent fueled by the simplistic notion that anyone who was not George Bush could, if not wave a magic wand of harmony, at least reassure the exalted leaders of Europe and the U.N. that the U.S. would from now on defer to “International opinion”, and go through a tortuous process of self-questioning before daring to make a move that might carry even the appearance of acting “Unilaterally”.
Unfortunately, we now know that the strategies undertaken by that “Centrist” darling of middle-ground liberalism, Bill Clinton, didn’t work. (What were those strategies again? Oh, right.) While America looked the other way, Bin Laden’s cult members underwent training in special terrorist camps, and carried out their initial attacks against military targets abroad in preparation for their holy grail of civilian slaughter, 9/11. This process wasn’t unknown to us, nor were the attacks completely unexpected, but trying to pin the blame on George Bush and Condoleeza Rice plays into a reassuring fantasy that leaders from the Democratic party are the morally pure ones, while Republicans openly embrace economic rape of the entire planet, “Causing” terrorism.
People, events, and history are far more complex than can ever be perceived by those who spoke admiringly of Kerry’s ability to act in a “Nuanced” manner – never mind that it was usually just incoherence - but acknowledging this reality is the hardest first step to take in finding one’s way out of the “Bush=Hitler” woods.Until the anti-Bush faction can offer better strategies than those employed by George Bush for fighting terrorism and promoting peace and stability around the globe, there will be no real reason to consider voting for their candidate. In fact, if you listen to their battle cries, they tend to employ the notion that Israel is simply a huge pain in the neck, and peace would reign if it would just go away – but that’s a therapy session most aren’t ready for yet.
posted by ET @ 1:08 PM
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