Sincerity and Bush

One occasionally hears the comment that Bush came into office as an isolationist of sorts, who was forced by circumstances (read September 11) to become an interventionist, a neoconservative. It is a common mistake to see a politician's rhetoric as somehow representative of his or her intentions. If, as such insiders as O'Neill and Clarke have suggested, it was Bush's intention to invade Iraq far before September 11 came along, I don't think that really identifies him as an isolationist.

Bush is a politician first and foremost. One of the problems I have with his supporters is they impute motives to him that bear no resemblance to his actions. It was clear to me, in the summer of 2001, when he engaged in that drawn-out kabuki over stem-cell research, that it was foolish to imply sincerity to this man. Every action was carefully choreographed and planned to play a certain way to certain constituencies. The sincerity that Bush allegedly radiates is a mask.

We find this insincerity almost everywhere in Bush's public pronouncements. Is there any reason, given Bush's subsequent unqualified praise, to believe that Bush actually chewed Rumsfeld out over the situation at Abu Ghraib? Do Bush's endless sermons about spreading democracy, or "freedom", to the Middle East mean he is committed, actually committed, to doing so? Gerson and Frum might be dedicated to this task, but Bush isn't.

It's always confusing to me when people tell me that they find Bush convincing, sincere and genuine... when they echo the President's words, "when I say something, I mean it." Or when people, like Will Saletan, say that Bush stick to his guns come hell or high water, that his deficiency is his stubbornness. The first is just another demonstration of people's willingness to be lied to, to believe propaganda without the filter of common sense; Bush may not be able to finish a sentence without uttering a neologism or tripping over his tongue, but he is, at heart, a performer. The second is wrong in a more interesting way. Bush, and by extension, his administration, is incapable of admitting wrong, but it is perfectly happy to weasel out of sticky situations by reversing course- what the Kerry-haters call "flip-flopping"- and has been aided and abetted in these flip-flops by a political media that is at turns deferential and and incompetent, gossipy and partisan. So Bush may hold onto policies (and Defense Secretaries) until long after they've gone sour, but he's not above ditching political liabilities so long as he's aware of them and get away with it.