ObBushcation-The Politics of Dismeaning

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004


Rather prophetic wouldn’t you say? I do not want to dwell on the stupid things that come out President Bush’s mouth. There are far too many websites that provides extended lists that continue to grow and grow and grow.

His misquotes, examples of incoherent logic, and, at times, fabrications have really served him well. His inability or unwillingness to provide a cogent, complete argument for any of his policies has permeated his administration for the past 6 years. It has severely damaged the ongoing political discourse in this country. We have such low expectations for him. When he ignores facts or makes up his own somehow we have been trained to give him a pass. When he changes his justification for the war in Iraq (almost daily), we have collective amnesia. Somehow we forget his spurious talking points about Iraq’s WMDs or nuclear programs, links to Al Qaeda, or need to create democratic institutions. They are in yesterday’s news cycle. And besides, we don’t expect W to have the ability to link today’s sound bites to yesterday’s sound bites. He has mastered the art of low expectations and intellectual dishonesty. W is winking at us as he reads the prepared statements some speechwriter puts in front of him. His frat boy demeanor only reinforces the notion that he is play-acting and bored with it all. We turn away fully aware that he doesn’t mean what he says.

The awful truth is that his limbo stick of intellectual curiosity is so low we don’t even try to reach down to pay attention anymore. And sadly, his administration is filled with others who have adopted his reality stretching tactics I call obBushcation. His bagman Alberto and our Attorney General is W’s master student. Tony Snow, Stephen Hadley, Condi Rice, and Fran Townsend would all get passing grades at W’s school of diminishing rhetorical returns.

They too have given up making a real sense. They now understand that the goal is just to say something, anything that promulgates fear or perpetuates the cult of low expectations. Intersperse hot buttons words such as Terror, Al Qaeda, 9-11, with non-sequiturs such as “fight them there so we don’t fight them here,” “We have confidence in (you fill in the blank), he/she did a marvelous job presenting the administration’s case,” or “Leaving now will create a haven for _____.”

The Washington Press Corp has given up trying to hold W and minions to any kind of intellectual standard. It really isn’t surprising that Lindsay’s, Brittany’s and Paris’ escapades are given as much print and air time as W’s policy pronouncements. They all are fluff and lack substance. The twenty-hour news cycle and the plethora of newspapers, magazines, talking head shows need to fill up the space.

W has created obBushcation. Is it premeditated or just fortuitous? Either way it continues to work very effectively.

"Iraq is a very important part of securing the homeland, and it's a very important part of helping change the Middle East into a part of the world that will not serve as a threat to the civilized world, to people like—or to the developed world, to people like—in the United States." —Washington, D.C., April 3, 2007

We just roll our eyes and groan.