Dr. J.'s Commentary: Deranged, Delusional, NOT

Peggy Noonan was perhaps the paramount hagiographer of Ronald Reagan, perhaps the most influential creator of the Reagan Myth. Peggy Noonan is currently contributing to The Wall Street Journal. In a column entitled "American Grit" posted on the OpinionJournal.com on Friday, July 13, 2007 (that tells you something), Noonan had this to say, in part, about George Bush: "I found myself Thursday watching President Bush's news conference and thinking about what it is about him, real or perceived, that makes people who used to smile at the mention of his name now grit their teeth. . . . I received an email before the news conference from as rock-ribbed a Republican as you can find, a Georgia woman (middle-aged, entrepreneurial) who'd previously supported him. She said she'd had it . . . . Americans have always been somewhat romantic about the meaning of our country . . . . But they like the president to be the cool-eyed realist, the tough customer who understands harsh realities. With Mr. Bush it is the people who are forced to be cool-eyed and realistic. He's the one who goes off on the toots."

He's the one who goes off on the toots?!? This is Peggy Noonan speaking, folks. He must be deranged or delusional. That's the only possible explanation of what Noonan describes as his "seemingly effortless high spirits. . . . [His] certain steely good cheer. . . ." Isn't it? But hold on. We've got the alternative view of The New York Times columnist David Brooks, who seems to be vying for the position of paramount hagiographer of George W. Bush. In his column of July 17, 2007, "Heroes and History," he tells us that in an interview at the White House "Bush was assertive and good-humored. . . . His self-confidence is the most remarkable feature of his presidency. . . . [Far from being delusional, he has an] unconquerable faith in the rightness of his Big Idea. Bush is convinced that history is moving in the direction of democracy, or as he said Friday: ‘I do believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of that Almighty to all is freedom. And I will tell you that is a principle that no one can convince me that doesn't exist.' [And so], Bush remains energized by the power of the presidency."

Exactly so, folks. Not only does this man remain "energized by the power of the presidency," but also he is using it to a fare-thee-well, whether (details, details) the powers he is exerting because there is no one there who can stop him, are described in Article II of the Constitution or not. He is neither deranged nor delusional. He is right on track. In fact, it is probably to his benefit that his critics are focusing on "deranged or delusional" because it distracts most of them from seeing what is really going on under the Bush polices, both foreign and domestic. Of course, those policies have nothing to do, either at home or abroad, with "moving in the direction of democracy."

We know exactly what Bush's view of democracy is, and it has nothing to with "freedom," which he is moving as fast as he can to totally stamp out right here in River City. Almost every week now comes a new Executive Order, on top of the "Patriot Act," and the "Military Commissions Act," and warrantless searches, and so on and so forth, under which Bush grants himself increasing power to drown what is left of American democracy in Grover Norquist's bathtub. The latest is an Executive Order under which Bush has granted to himself the power to take the property of anyone he deems a terrorist or an abettor of terrorism. So spreading democracy has nothing to do with his Iraq policy. In fact, it is highly likely Bush cares not a wit about Iraq itself or the Iraqi people themselves.

What he does care about is the ongoing American presence in Iraq, the ongoing violence in Iraq, yes the creation of new potential terrorists in Iraq, the creation of a new branch of something that labels itself "Al Qaeda in Iraq" even if bin Laden's base is somewhere in the territory of the U.S. "ally" Pakistan. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, folks. If you look at the policy and you look at its implementation since the invasion, there is only one conclusion: the chaos is by design, the goal is Permanent War. The reason for Permanent War being the only route to the establishment of the Permanent Republican Presidency, the ultimate goal of Bush and Cheney and Rove. (See the right-on-target BuzzFlash editorial, "How The White House Will Manipulate Events and Emotions to Maintain GOP Executive Branch Control in 2008." The reason Bush will not negotiate with anybody, much less the Democrats, on any plan for Iraq withdrawal is that for Bush, withdrawal is simply not on the table.

He is neither deranged nor delusional about Iraq. He is right on his target. Most of his critics, on our side and increasingly among Republicans such as Noonan, think Bush is delusional (or deranged) when it comes to Iraq policy. No folks, it is his critics who are being delusional when they think he continues to pursue his policy because he is delusional. He ain't. We are. We are going to be able to beat him only when we recognize that fact, now oh-so-obviously staring us in the face.

Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY), a weekly contributing author for The Political Junkies, and contributing editor for The Moving Planet Blog.

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