Born Again Nihilist

by digby

In an interesting exchange on the Lehrer News Hour Wednesday night (in which David Frum proved again that he is an inveterate GOP shill who cares more for the party than the country) David Gergen mentioned several times that thre Bush administration saw Bush as Truman, in the sense that he would be vindicated by history. He said:

The surprise to me has been that, when you talk to people around the president, the model they cite is often that of Harry Truman. Truman was someone whose polls fell down into the 20s in the final year in office. And, indeed, he could not run in 1952 because he was so low because of the Korean War.

And as time went on, historians would look back and said he’s a wonderful president. And if that’s your model, then, you know, you just keep on keeping on, which is what this president is doing.

He’s not changing course; he’s not changing people; he’s not making any serious adjusts. He’s simply coming out, and keep talking, keep talking. “And, ultimately, history will vindicate me.” That’s the theory.

I think he’s probably right about how the administration is rationalizing its actions. Bush is temperamentaly incapable of changing course. He can’t allow any doubts because to admit that his “gut” is fallible leaves him with no way to make decisions. He certainly is incapable of analyzing a situation and making a decision based upon information and advice. But in his mind that’s ok, because he’s been convinced that his “gut” knows what his mind doesn’t.

But as I listened to Gergen I couldn’t help but be reminded of another famous line of Bush’s, recorded by Bob Woodward:

In his interview with Woodward, conducted over two days in December of last year, Bush displayed no second thoughts about Iraq’s postwar miseries or the failure to turn up any WMD. “I haven’t suffered doubt,” he told Woodward. When the author – quoting Bush’s political adviser Karl Rove – suggested that “all history gets measured by outcomes,” Bush “smiled,” reports Woodward. ” ‘History,’ he said, shrugging, taking his hands out of his pockets, extending his arms out and suggesting with his body language that it was so far off. ‘We won’t know. We’ll all be dead’.”

Bush doesn’t care if history will vindicate him. He’s not comforting himself that someday he’ll be judged as a Truman who successfully guided the world through the immediate post war period. Maybe Karl Rove thinks that but Bush could not care less how history will judge him because “we’ll all be dead.”

He’s refusing to change course because he refuses to admit he’s wrong. There’s nothing complicated about it. He’s an arrogant, stupid man. And he’s the most powerful man in the world.

Gergen concluded:

And it’s just remarkable to me, to go back to the Truman analogy, that he’s just walking a straight line. And we’ve always appreciated the fact that he was resolute. Now he appears stubborn.

You know, “I’m going to walk a straight. I’m not listening. I believe I’m on the right course. I believe history will vindicate me.”

Well, Mr. President, you may believe that. But, you know, you could put all the rest of us in one hell of a mess if your gamble doesn’t pay off.

He doesn’t care. After all, we’ll all be dead someday anyway. President Bush, the alleged born again Christian, is a nihilist.

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