Want some insight into what Washingtonians mean when they use words like ‘shameless’ and ‘brazen’ and ‘disgusting’?
As you know, countless reporters continue to pore over the never-ending outrages of the various gifts the Clintons took with them when they left the White House last month. Brazen, tawdry, awful, shameless, yada, yada, yada â¦
Now let’s look at what doesn’t count.
For two years George W. Bush campaigned on promises of restoring the American military which, he argued, had dangerously deteriorated – in terms of morale, materiel, and readiness. He portrayed the military as overextended, under-funded, in desperate need of spare parts, unable to meet pressing needs. In his nomination speech he went so far as to (falsely) claim that two divisions of the army were currently unfit for duty because president Clinton had let things get so bad. In other words, the situation was critical and help was desperately needed.
Yesterday Bush decided he’ll stick with Bill Clinton’s defense budget after all. Instead he’ll institute a ‘review’ of what additional spending might be needed. (This essentially means that any substantial changes in military spending and readiness won’t occur until the third year of his administration.)
Needless to say the military brass is really unhappy about this. On the other hand The New York Times applauded Bush’s prudence in not rushing ahead with “any major increases in military spending until his administration has a chance to review America’s real defense needs.”
Depending on your views on the military, you may or may not be happy that Bush is not rushing ahead with increases in defense spending. But let’s be honest. This is hardly a moment of fiscal austerity. Republicans are talking about cutting literally thousands of billions of dollars in tax revenue over the next decade. There’s plenty of cash to go around. And with all the hand-wringing there must have been some needs that had to be fixed even before the top-down review, right?
(In this editorial, Robert Kagan, a principled though sometimes outlandish hawk, explains why this argument about the need for a ‘review’ is ridiculous on its face.)
So what does it all mean? All that talk about Bill Clinton leaving American soldiers at risk because of supply shortages, America in danger because of a weakened military, all those ominous campaign trail warnings from Norman Schwartzkopf ⦠that was apparently just ⦠well, just crap. This is not only a broken campaign promise but a particularly egregious one since scare tactics and lies about imperiled soldiers and the nation at risk play on the most primal and volatile public passions. It’s high-stakes manipulation and deception. You might even call this sort of lying and hypocrisy shameless, brazen, disgusting.
But here in DC? Apparently not.
P.S. A few Talking Points readers have reported early stages of withdrawal due to the recent infrequent rate of postings. Okay, okay, I’ll keep you hooked up. Hope this does the trick!
