What Happened?

If you were to search Amazon for the top selling book in the past day, you would find that Scott McClellan’s book “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” is the #1 seller. I have several thoughts about this. First, I have not read the book. I have read reviews and articles but not the book itself. My first gut reaction is that McClellan, the former Press Secretary in the Bush Administration, is making a killing off of this book. During an election, with an unpopular war, and a President whose approval ratings have been historical lows, this is the perfect time for a book such as this. So, if I were to read this book, I would read it with a grain of salt.

However, if I may quote Obama, this has “confirmed what a lot of us have thought for some time.” Over the past 3-4 years, Pres. Bush has come under heavy scrutiny for his seemingly unplanned invasion of Iraq. Now, we have no timetable for exit, and we’re coming out of one of the more violent times of the war. This we already knew. What McClellan states is that Bush had resolutely set out for War with Iraq shortly after Sept. 11. (We should note here that McClellan was Press Sec. from 2003-2006). In fact, McClellan writes that the White House went under a mass propaganda campaign to convince Congress and the American public that war is the only way, even at the expense of honesty and forthrightness. He writes, “Having gotten this far by vigorously seeking to manipulate public approval to our advantage – most notably in our political propaganda campaign to sell the war – we assumed the same approach [showing forward progress toward a democratic Iraq] would continue to work in our favor and help us overcome any challenges ahead.” And more to the point, “He and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and sustain public support during a time of war.”

I am thinking three things:

1. McClellan is being very strategic in the way in which he is making money. Controversy always sells.

2. President Bush is smarter than we give him credit for. Though he is quite known for his ‘Bushisms’ and below average grades, anyone who can convince the American public and both sides of Congress to go to war despite breaking international law and the Constitution in the process, is smarter than we first thought.

3. McClellan calls it a ‘culture of deception.’ I completely agree, but not just in the realm of politics. I’ll save my post on a ‘culture of deception’ for a later date.

I thought a lot more than three things. I thought about how this war was a ginormous mistake from the beginning. I thought about McCain trying to distance himself from the White House but still carrying the same agendas (It seems that the two major differences between McCain and Bush are on torture and the environment). Also, if a democrat does not win in November they should disband, take a few years off, re-think they’re purpose of being, and ultimately blame the Clintons. (This is written from the perspective of neither a democrat nor a republican. Seriously, the past 8 years of Bush’s administration seems to have proactively served the presidency on a silver platter to the Democrats. How this could be botched is beyond me…). This was not to turn into some election year rant, so I’m done. Peace.