He Never Fails, Even When Does

As the last 24 hours of the Bush Presidency approach, I suppose it is time to say a few words about the tiresome meme that Bush’s legacy will be that “he kept us safe.” Others have noted how bizarre it is that his defenders have chosen to hold up one of the areas where Mr. Bush oversaw unprecedented, catastrophic failure and determine that security was his crowning achievement. I might also question the claim depending on how one defines “us.” European allies and Westerners abroad were obviously much less secure as a direct result of Mr. Bush’s decisions. The charnel house that Mr. Bush made out of Iraq is omitted from the discussion on the implicit and appalling assumption that the devastation of that country is justified in the minds of many Bush supporters on the dubious grounds that it was done for the sake of American security, despite the great likelihood that the invasion and occupation have created a generation of newly-radicalized enemies who will seek to harm Americans in the future. To the extent that FEMA’s insufficient response to natural disaster revealed the government’s utter lack of preparedness and lack of appropriate leadership up through late 2005, the more appropriate way to describe the approximately four years between 9/11 and Katrina was that we as a nation happened to be fortunate during that period that the behemonth Department of Homeland Security was never called upon to respond to a major terrorist attack.

When supporters begin blithely claiming that the war in Iraq is over and we won, or declare that history will vindicate Mr. Bush, they are naturally not taking into account that this war may very well lead to even more terrible blowback in the years and decades to come. Indeed, the full costs of Mr. Bush’s failures will not be known for many years. In the terrible event that there are more disastrous consequences of Mr. Bush’s policies, will his apologists at that point acknowledge that he was a failure, or will they construct new arguments to claim that he cannot be held responsible for what happened later on? We already know the answer to that.