Friday, December 16, 2005

The Imperial Fallacy

The Madman of Chu cuts to the chase
Even so, I would predict that the morale-boosting effect of the speeches will be short-lived, and that their ultimate impact will be, on balance, more negative than positive. Pundits have pointed to distortions and ellisions within the speeches, but it is not for these that I would take the President to task. Having had such a complete void of candor from this administration, I can no longer evince surprise when it finally emerges within very strict limits. Rather, it is the overall logical thrust of the President's 'plan for victory' that I find ill-conceived and rhetorically ill-advised.

The administration's division of the Coalition mission into military, economic, and political aspects is in itself sound, but in all these arenas the President described a process in which the US has far more control than is at all possible.
That is, ultimately, the hubris which defines the Imperial Presidency, and the neo-conservative/PNAC/Straussian movement within it: they really think that they're in charge and that people will consistently do what they "predict" (it's not really prediction; more like wishful thinking within sharp ideological blinders).

[Thanks, Avedon!] Read the whole thing, it's solid, thoughtful stuff.

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