Messages to the World
For all the clever clackin' that went into writing Bush's speech on Thursday night, a coupla points have to be made. First, they know they are writing to a television audience. Not just that the people are watching television, but that they have been trained, willingly, to absorb information in chewable bites. That's why you could hear from the script, as well as from Bush's delivery, that every other line was designed to provoke applause. Sometimes the folks in the chamber would start clapping too early, and Bush had the sense to stop talking. Sometimes they would miss their cue — perhaps their hands were tired — and Bush would move on after waiting for them to come in.
Second, wouldn't it be nice to have applause free of catcalls and cheers. This is, after all, an august body, and some decorum would be a fine demonstration of its dignity. And not only does that mean respectful applause, but it should also be limited. It sounded more like a pre-game rally than the government declaring war; hardly surprising, considering the sports mentality of our leaders, and the way they present ideas.
That's who we are today, with twenty years of Reagan, Bush the Elder, and Clinton. They were the ones who go us into this mix, along with many of the culpables who have warmed seats in the Congress since the days of innocence. Okay, not that far back, but throughout the past three presidencies that have brought us to where we are today. CNN treated us to cameo shots of the players, perhaps thinking that what the president had to say wasn't important enough to leave the camera on him. In typically mindless fashion, they decided that viewers needed more glitz, so the cameras roamed the hall.
We saw the other perpetrators from the Department of Diplomacy and the Office of Mass Killings. Plus the legislative rubber stamps. There was the Supreme Court in quotes, led by Admiral Rehnquist with the gold stripes on the sleeves of his black robe. And quiet recalcitrants like Hillary Clinton Rodham, who seemed to barely mask her scorn. Try a mirror, honey; it was you and yours who lit the short fuse for September 11th. It was your breath-catchingly inept foreign policy that brewed a grand disaster out of Bosnia, Somalia, East Timor, the Middle East, and the Sub-Continent. But of course, there is responsibility for everyone, on both sides of the television, for allowing this all to go on, and for so long. Ignorance is not, apparently always blissful.
This whole approach to declaring war borders on the surreal. There's something of the quality of the first battle of Bull Run, when people took carriage rides from Washington and set up picnics above the fray. Now we have applause-peppered speeches, and human props like the young wife of one of the men who stormed the cockpit and stopped the terrorists before they could strike another target. A pretty blond lady, representing youth and beauty and sorrow and determination; the perfect widow-dressing for such an event.
There was also Tony Blair, representing our allies. And New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani and New York State Governor George Pataki, who have shown themselves to be serious leaders on the ground; they earned the most excited and sustained applause of the night.
Bush himself looked like he was trying to appear somewhere between sincere and thoughtful. He pulled it off, for the most part, but only for a substantial number of people who weren't looking with much perspective. Even Senator John Warner, who once dated Barbara Walters, was taken; he called it perhaps the best speech ever delivered. Um, no. Not even close. It may well have worked, at least in this country for these people who would have bought the moon as cream cheese, but it was little more than the typical bumpersticker-type rouse, with remarkably little substance.
And boy did he miss a wonderful line. When he ordered the Taliban to "hand them over", he should have closed with, "or we'll come get 'em." Alas, not that I think that would be a good idea, but it would have brought down the house. Maybe that isn't a good image. And he probably offended a bunch of Eye-talians with his reference the terrorists being like the Mafia, except not for profit. Where did that line come from?
The Bush directive -- "I have a message for our military: Be Ready" -- crossed into meaninglessness, symbiotic with the comment by the Chair of the Joint Chiefs on the day of the bombing that he wanted the public to know that "your military is ready." Where had they been? Would they ever be ready?
Robert Byrd, who sat next to House Speaker Hastert behind Bush, is going to be 84 in a coupla months, and he's showing his age. He's one of the old guard, who probably supports the president, and will regret the loss of the boys from West Virginia who are being sent to die in a place most couldn't find on a map of the world. It's almost as crazy as what the terrorists did.
In truth, there were some fine lines, like "bringing justice to our enemies or our enemies to justice." And the flourescent reference to Fascism, Nazism, and Totalitarianism -- he would have said Communism but he didn't want to offend our allies, Russia and China -- as evil notions that have been consigned to "history's unmarked grave of discarded lies."
There was also a curious comment about the economy and jobs, that came out of nowhere. Maybe it was a paean to the good folks who are concerned about the plummet we call the stock market, and the 100,000 layoffs in the airline industry alone. (Strains of "Impossible Dream" rise from the floor of the House.) Will war be good for the economy? Except for a bunch of already-wealthy industrialist warmongers, not likely. We will spend tens of billions of dollars making stuff and blowing it up, but in the end, we're only deepening the black hole that is our national debt.
There was a bright spot at the end of the week, a supra-media star-studded television extravaganza featuring many of the top names in entertainment. They sang, they talked about acts of heroism, and raised funds for the victims. There was no applause -- Congress, take a lesson -- and no posturing, just sincerity, humility and heartfelt contribution. And the script was remarkably intelligent -- Bush, take a lesson. One codicil, if they raised a million dollars for each of the victims, it would be what the Pentagon spends in a week.
I don't think anyone in any country could feel more pride than I do about America — what we've done, what we are about, and what we might do. I hope that the majority voices calling for reason will be heard, and that in a confluence with circumstance, our policy will be to move forward to embrace a true, wide-scale justice that brings us long-sought and lasting world peace. Why else are we here?
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.