Reality based?

He's Just Saying

By Rick Horowitz

There are people who will tell you that the war in Iraq has turned a corner. That the "surge" of American troops is making a real difference on the ground, and that at long last, they can see progress. They'll even point to signs that the Iraqi government is finally getting its act together. All Mr. Maliki and his friends need, they'll tell you, is a little breathing room and a little more time.

There are other people who will tell you that the war in Iraq is getting worse with every passing week. That for every drop in violence in one place, there's a spike in violence somewhere else. That the sectarian hatreds can't be stuffed back in the bottle, not in our lifetimes, and that in the middle of a civil war, American troops have no role to play -- except as targets. And that's even before you get to the toll that multiple extended deployments have taken on our ability to respond to other crises elsewhere, or to the damage that's been done to America's reputation and influence in the world, or --

I lean toward these other people, needless to say, but I recognize that there are honorable, thoughtful people on both sides of the debate. People who are absolutely agonized about the predicament we're in, and equally agonized about mapping a way out that won't be even worse. There are even people like David Petraeus, whose carefully nuanced public statements are a-little-of-this, a-little-of-that, and whose every word is seized upon by one side or the other to confirm the positions they've already staked out.

He's an intelligent and thoughtful man, Gen. Petraeus is, and when he speaks, I try to listen carefully. What he says, after all, is connected to reality.

As opposed, say, to what the president says.

George Bush is floating free again. (And I'm not talking about his dancing.) He's still worth listening to, if only because he still controls most of the buttons, and because it's helpful to know what the guy who controls most of the buttons thinks about things -- or at least what he wants you to think he thinks about things.

But the link between the words coming out of his mouth and facts on the ground -- well, let's just say that any resemblance is strictly coincidental. He's got the soundbites and the slogans down cold, but as for actual, reliable information processed or proclaimed, not so much, Not much at all.

Which is why more and more Americans are simply tuning the man out.

And it's not just Iraq. Or did you miss the latest presidential phantasmagoria about his pal Alberto Gonzales? The rest of the country -- including members of Congress of all stripes, from both parties -- may have seen a senior Cabinet official drowning in a sea of "I can't recall"s and "I have no specific recollection"s. But not George W.

"The attorney general went up and gave a very candid assessment and answered every question he could possibly answer," the president declared this week, "in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job,"

In a way that increased his confidence. It didn't diminish his confidence. It didn't even leave his confidence wherever it had been. No -- the attorney general's excruciating, humiliating fumblethon actually increased the president's confidence in his ability to do the job. Amazing.

What, you wonder, could Mr. Gonzales have done to make a negative impression on the president? Start speaking in tongues? Accidentally set fire to the witness table?

Even that might not have done the trick. This is, don't forget, the same president who uttered the immortal words, "Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job!" Reality has nothing to do with it.

And we're supposed to listen to him? We're supposed to be led by him?

Maybe he ought to stick to dancing.

Posted 4/28/07. Rick can see connections. Have you told your friends? (What are you waiting for?)

Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist, TV commentator, writing coach and public speaker.

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