“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.”
CAIRO, Egypt—Taxi-rides here are often adventures in international relations as well as slaloms through automobile chaos (the driving in Cairo might be best described as New York without lane-lines, traffic lights or seatbelts). Upon acknowledgment of nationality, a lot of taxi-drivers like and want to talk politics with their American fares. There are easier questions: What do you think of Egypt? Do you like Bush? Why didn’t Kerry win? And there are more difficult ones: Does Bush hate all the Arabs or just all the Muslims?
At this point past the election, politics—especially attempting to defend and explain President George W. Bush—is the last thing on my wish list. Much better to move on. It seems like most liberals are at that point: emerged from the post-election funk with the attitude that dwelling on the election is no fun and counterproductive.
Time to settle in and make the best of a rotten situation. Plus, there’s always Hillary in ’08 or Obama in ’12.
On the other hand, thanks to some chatty taxi-drivers, whether for better or for worse, I’ve had some extra time to dwell on the election.
Every time something new pops up in the media that has either administrative scandal or possible cover-up written all over it, I can’t help but think of the quote above. It’s usually attributed to Joseph Stalin. No, Bush isn’t like ole’ steel Joe, but Stalin’s words may still be applicable to our president.
Starting with how the 2000 election went down in Florida, think of all the news events that have occurred since. There’s been some less-than-heroic stuff.
The non-existent WMD and Abu Ghraib in Iraq. The ignored 9/11 memos that may have stopped the attacks. The tossed-aside Geneva Convention in Guantanamo Bay. How the administration may have leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame because her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, wouldn’t cooperate with the White House on WMD.
There’s also been some exposés that probably should have had longer stays in the news: the missing explosives in Iraq, the story of Abdul Qadeer Khan—the father of the nuclear bomb program in Pakistan (our ally in the war on terror)—who sold atomic secrets and parts to Iran and the closed-to-the public, civil-liberties busting deportation hearings of possible terror suspects rounded up after Sept. 11.
It’s not that much of a stretch to imagine years from now reading in history textbooks about stories like these that ended up taking down the Bush presidency.
But that’s the kicker—it’s not just one or two incidents. There are a lot of them. And with each one, not only does it make it seem like business as usual, but each incident—on its own possibly enough to become a Watergate—gets devalued.
That’s where the Stalin quote comes in: after a bunch of these things, who cares that the administration was negligent in the handling of 350 tons of high explosives in a country full of folks who would love to use them against us?
Big deal. Toss it on the pile. The next scandal becomes a statistic.
And with every incident, the cost of ’fessing up to the truth becomes higher and higher because the implicit approval that goes along with swallowing each also goes higher. At this point, if a Watergate happened, the American people would have a lot of self-reflecting to do.
And asking those questions isn’t the most desirable thing to do in the world at a time when we are fighting a war against enemies who say we are just that—a nation of immoral people. But don’t forget the ability to criticize and question our leaders and ourselves is part of what makes us so great.
Maybe Karl Rove deserves applause for his genius. He knows the consequences of the consequences and that nobody wants to face them. He’s playing a game of chicken with the American public, hoping that no one will call the administration’s bluff.
Right now with every would-be Watergate, America is hitting the snooze button, asking for a little more sleep and blissful ignorance each time.
Is that the right thing to do? No. Will hitting the snooze work? That remains to be seen.
Jesse Shuger-Colvin is a Trinity junior.
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