No sympathy for American devil

ANDREW GREELEY

_Consider these words about
war and the president:
"War is in fact the true
nurse of executive aggrandize-
ment. In war a physical force is
created, and it is the executive will
to direct it. In war the public treas-
ures are to be unlocked, and it is
the executive hand which is to dis-
pense them. In war the honor and
emoluments of office are to be
multiplied; and it is the executive
patronage under which they are to
be enjoyed. It is in war, finally,
that laurels are to be gathered and
it is the executive brow they are to
encircle. The strongest passions
and the most dangerous weakness
of the human beast--ambition,
avarice, vanity, the honorable or
venal love of fame--are all in con-
spiracy against the desire and duty
of peace."
Who wrote that rather baroque
paragraph? A liberal democratic
intellectual? A Protestant church
person? Someone in the Vatican?
No. It was James Madison.
When he was president, Madi-
son led us into a foolish war during
which the English burned the
White House. The flag still flying
over Fort McHenry was a nice
symbol, but not exactly a victory.
The battle of New Orleans, which
enabled some Americans to claim
that we hadn't lost the war (which of course we had) came after the
peace treaty was signed. Madison
must have reflected that his earlier
words were a chilling prophecy of
what happens when a president is
out of control.
__At least Madison insisted on the
passage in the Constitution that
required that congress must de-
clare war--a passage that since
Korea has become moot.
__If one reads Bob Woodward's
admiring book Bush at War, one
can see Madison's point. A man of
strong patriotism and deep reli-
gious faith, George W. Bush is not
troubled by nuanced though, a
sence of the ambiguity of human
events, or a need to build coali-
tions as his father did. He is inno-
cent of the complex concept that,
like his father and his predecessor,
he _is _president _not only of the
__________
Bush has succeded
brilliantly in turning
the whole world
anti-American.
world and must protect his credi-
bility with that constituency as
well.
Instead, he says we can and will
do it ourselves (whatever "it"
might be), and we don't need any-
one else. One leads by doing, and
the others will follow. Too bad for
them.
So he has people all over the
world hating Americans and op-
posing the war, even in the coun-
tries whose leaders have embraced
the American cause. Even in Ire-
land, where anti-Americanism was
present only among the intellectu-
als until recently, the majority
want the government to ban Amer-
ican refueling stops at Shannon
Airport and members of the
Catholic Workers attack American
planes with axes and hammers.
"Our president," as Republicans
like to call Bush (the term never
applies to a Democratic president),
having lost the election by a half-
million votes, has succeeded bril-
liantly in turning the whole world
anti-American. In fact, the Su-
preme Court delivered the United
States into the hands of the hard-
right, imperialist, fundamentalist,
death-penalty wing of the Republi-
can Party (the president's "base").
In the wake of the World Trade
Center attack, the public bought
the rhetoric of patriotic imperial-
ism. Now it is changing its mind.
Most Americans do not support a
"go it alone" war. And the presi-
dent's approval rating is down to
55 percent--lower than his prede-
cessor at the time of the Monica
Lewinsky scandal.
After September 2001, the
United States enjoyed the sympa-
thy and support of virtually every-
one in the world. In a little over a
year, the president has managed to
waste all that sympathy. Not bad.
I don't mean French President
Jacques Chirac and German Chan-
cellor Gerhard Schroeder who
see votes to be won by pandering
to the anti-Americanism of their
own people. They are not impor-
tant. The administration has of-
fended by its insensitivity, its arro-
gance and its cement-headed
imperialism the ordinary people of
Europe--including out English al-
lies and, heaven save us all, the
Irish. And the pope!
Nice going, Mr President!