On the stump, all enemies are equal
By Peter S. Canellos
Boston Globe
WASHINGTON -- Despite the public's misgivings about some of President Bush's strategic decisions, one approach to the war on terrorism that is likely to outlive his administration is his way of selling the war to the American people.
In his blitzkrieg of 9/11 speeches, Bush has lumped together numerous countries, foreign leaders, religious figures, and political movements under one banner -- as supporters of terrorism -- and ignored the differences among them.
On the stump, this conveys a sense of moral clarity, of a battle between good people and evil people, suggesting a clean distinction can be made. But it also has led to a widespread misunderstanding -- that all the people cited by Bush are working in concert against the United States.
This has become the way many Americans perceive the war on terrorism. It is why 43 percent of Americans questioned in a CNN poll last week said they think Saddam Hussein was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks.
And now, a similar blurring of distinctions is marking the language of Republican presidential contenders.
Senator John McCain of Arizona, who differs with Bush on the Iraq war strategy, has nonetheless adopted Bush's sweeping language in defining the war on terrorism: ``I think it's clear that this is now part of a titanic struggle between radical Islamic extremism and Western standards and values," McCain said earlier this year.
And last week, another GOP hopeful, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, refused to allow state police to protect the former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, declaring without clear evidence that Khatami had endorsed the call of his successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to ``wipe Israel off the map." Romney also blamed Khatami for Iran's crackdown on democracy protesters.
It was a Bush-like attempt at making a sharp moral distinction: Anyone involved in Iran's various offenses must be treated as an enemy of the United States. Romney ``gets it," crowed the conservative Washington Times.
(There's more, here.)
Boston Globe
WASHINGTON -- Despite the public's misgivings about some of President Bush's strategic decisions, one approach to the war on terrorism that is likely to outlive his administration is his way of selling the war to the American people.
In his blitzkrieg of 9/11 speeches, Bush has lumped together numerous countries, foreign leaders, religious figures, and political movements under one banner -- as supporters of terrorism -- and ignored the differences among them.
On the stump, this conveys a sense of moral clarity, of a battle between good people and evil people, suggesting a clean distinction can be made. But it also has led to a widespread misunderstanding -- that all the people cited by Bush are working in concert against the United States.
This has become the way many Americans perceive the war on terrorism. It is why 43 percent of Americans questioned in a CNN poll last week said they think Saddam Hussein was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks.
And now, a similar blurring of distinctions is marking the language of Republican presidential contenders.
Senator John McCain of Arizona, who differs with Bush on the Iraq war strategy, has nonetheless adopted Bush's sweeping language in defining the war on terrorism: ``I think it's clear that this is now part of a titanic struggle between radical Islamic extremism and Western standards and values," McCain said earlier this year.
And last week, another GOP hopeful, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, refused to allow state police to protect the former president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, declaring without clear evidence that Khatami had endorsed the call of his successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to ``wipe Israel off the map." Romney also blamed Khatami for Iran's crackdown on democracy protesters.
It was a Bush-like attempt at making a sharp moral distinction: Anyone involved in Iran's various offenses must be treated as an enemy of the United States. Romney ``gets it," crowed the conservative Washington Times.
(There's more, here.)
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