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Mission Accomplished Day, plus Three Years

W's administration is absolutely post-ironic, of course, and so when one turns attention towards the White House, the moral compass spins wildly, finding irony in every direction -- none of it intended or noticed by those responsible. The famous Mission Accomplished stunt is the epitomal instance. When W was deposited like the prop he is on the deck of the carrier off San Diego, the previously-stated goals in Iraq had not been accomplished, nor of course have they now, or are they likely to ever be. But the unstated goal -- to distract the electorate from the repugnance and incompetence at the White House (and everywhere its appointees went), for just long enough to ensure a second term -- had indeed been accomplished.

The grand overarching irony of W's reign is grand indeed; it's almost metaphysical. One of W's greatest failings is his tendency to see things in Manichean terms, in black and white -- 'You're with us, or you're with the terrorists.' But he has proved so blatantly mendacious, malicious, unscrupulous and cowardly that he has nearly brought into being the binary moral system he hallucinates. There is no longer any middle ground; those who support, or remain indifferent to George Bush are guilty at the very least of moral negligence, and to the degree they support him guilty even of moral turpitude. We all have friends and relatives in this condition; they may not be despicable, or evil people, but they are certainly wrong.

posted by Kalkaino @ 12:39 PM