If he *believed* it, and he had no intent to deceive, then it was NOT A LIE. Lying = intent to deceive. It may have been a false statement, stupid, naive, or any number of other things, but not a lie.
Interesting, Pam. Because it is my impression too, that George W. Bush isn't exactly a liar, or at least that this word - "liar" - does a poor job of characterizing him.
What amazes me about George Bush is the way he seems so completely untroubled and untouched by any criticism, and the way he seems so unconcerned when the world around him fails to behave as he had predicted that it would. (Or maybe it was his aides that had predicted that the world would behave in a certain way, which didn't come true at all.)
Anyway, I find Bush's self-confidence remarkable. When the Iraq war didn't go as he or his aides had predicted - although things are better there now, certainly - or when his popularity figures are down to thirty per cent, or when the budget deficit keeps growing and the dollar keeps falling and a recession seems to be looming on the horizon - then Bush seems unshakably confident and at peace. I once heard an interview with Bush when he was asked if he had ever made a bad choice as a President and done something that was bad for his country. "I'm sure I must have," Bush replied. "Can you give us an example of when you made a bad choice?" the reporter asked. "No," Bush answered. "I can't remember that I have ever done something wrong or made a bad choice while I have been the President."
Well, I could bring up something that most economists would probably describe as wrong or really unwise. Waging a war is costly. The cost of the war has to be paid for by the central government. In order to pay for the war, the government needs tax revenues. Therefore the tax revenues that are at the government's disposal need to increase during war times. Most economists would probably say that it is a very good idea for a government to raise taxes if it plans to start a war.
Bush didn't raise taxes. He lowered the taxes instead. At a time when his administration needed more tax revenues, he made sure that it got less tax revenues instead.
As a result, America's budget deficit rose sharply. As a result, the dollar started falling. As a result, the price of oil, which is set in dollar, has reached new record heights. Yesterday, the New York Times reported that President Bush had called for OPEC to increase the supply of oil to reduce prices. OPEC rebuffed Bush, saying that the world is well supplied with oil, and the high price of it is caused by America's mismanageement of its own economy.
And let's not even mention the subprime loan bubble and the housing crisis and the recession which is waiting to happen. Bush's response to that was - surprise - more tax cuts. More tax cuts, as the war in Iraq is going on and racking up more costs all the time.
I think that most economists would agree that lowering taxes while you are at war is a bad move. I think most of them would say that the present economic difficulties in the United States are at least partly caused by President Bush's economic politics. And yet I have read again and again that people who meet Bush in private describe him as calm, serene, happy, and in good spirits. Untroubled. How can he be so untroubled when many things appear to be going wrong around him, and when he may be thought of as responsible for them?
I don't think Bush is primarily a liar. I can't see a liar being so self-confident, so serene and so, almost
humble at the same time. Is he stupid, then? Many people have accused him of that. But I think that the charge of stupidity, too, is a too simple answer. Bush has gone to many schools and graduated from them, and you just can't do that if you are too slow-witted.
No, I don't think that Bush is primarily a liar or that he is primarily stupid. Those words do not explain what he is. I think that Bush, much like my own relatives, is primarily a believer.
My grandfather was a smart, intelligent man. He had had little formal schooling, but that didn't prevent him from becoming a self-taught engineer. He understood many important principles of science. He invented, designed and constructed new machinery for the mill he was working for. He wasn't stupid! And it wouldn't surprise me too much if he never told a lie in his life, at least after he had become an adult.
But my grandfather was a believer. He was locked inside his own bubble reality of Pentecostalism. Nothing that contradicted his belief ever penetrated his bubble. For example, he was a strong believer in miracles. All his adult life he subscribed to a religious weekly, and every week it told him new amazing stories of totally improbably miracles that had happened in distant corners of the world - Bali, Borneo, New Guinea... A boy was born without eyes, but God gave him his eyesight anyway so that he could look at the world with his empty eye-sockets. A woman was chock-full of cancer and dying of it, but a Pentecostalist pastor prayed for her and the next morning she woke up as healthy and as perfect as she had ever been before she fell ill.
So of course, when my grandmother got cancer at the age of 84, then grandfather
knew that God would cure her. He
knew it. For the next two years, my grandmother was slowly wasting away. But every time she seemed to show the slightest little improvement, my grandfather was jubilant. Now God was going to cure her! The next day she was worse, and grandfather was devastated again. But two weeks later she seemed a tiny bit better, and grandfather was over the moon. Soon he was despondent again. Things went on like that for two years. My grandfather was on an emotional rollercoaster as he kept believing, right up to the very end, that God would cure his wife. So what if she had become emaciated and tiny like a child? God would cure her. He would cure her because he would. Because that is what had to happen.
I think that President Bush is a man whose faith is as strong as my grandfather's. I don't necessarily mean that President Bush is as fervent a Christian as my grandfather was. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But I think that Bush had an almost religious belief that it was right and necessary to attack Iraq and take down Saddam. And because it was necessary and right that he should do it, it was necessary and right that that he did it. So what if Iraq proved to be a much bigger mess than he had predicted? It is going to turn out right in the end. Anything else is impossible. Because when you do the right thing, it
will turn out right in the end. Because it must.
Similarly, President Bush probably believes that taxes are intrinsically evil. Therefore it was up to him to liberate America from as much of its tax burden as he was able to. What if that created an imbalance in the American economy? It is going to turn out right in the end. So what if there seems to be a recession looming? It won't happen. But even if it will, it will turn out all right in the end. Because it must. Because it can't end any other way.
Nothing could penetrate my grandfather's reality bubble. Nothing can penetrate President Bush's reality bubble.
I once heard someone say that when George W. Bush was new as a President, he didn't really know what to do with his Presidency. He spent much of his time on his farm, relaxing and having a good time. To him, 9/11 was more than a wake-up call. It was a totally soul-changing experience like Saint Paul's conversion on his way to Damascus. Paul's experience changed him utterly for the rest of his life. His glimpse of the majestic Christ of Heaven sent him travelling around the Roman Empire, as he worked tirelessly for the conversion of the heathens. So what did 9/11 do to Bush?
I have heard it said that Bush regarded 9/11 as an event through which Destiny, or Fate, or the Universe, or God, shone its searchlights on Bush and made him its knight and envoy. Bush was singled out, chosen. He was given a sacred mission - to set right the time, which was out of joint. In particular, he had to set right or fulfill what his father had not managed to do. His father had declared war on Iraq, but he had retreated from Iraq before he had captured Saddam, and before he had remade that country. Also, his father had promised not to raise taxes, but he had done so anyway. Now Bush Jr. would do what his father had not been able to. He would take down Saddam, remake Iraq, and lower taxes in America. Because Destiny, Fate, the Universe or God had given him that sacred mission.
Do I
know that Bush regards himself as the envoy and knight of Destiny or God? Of course not! Of course I can't know such a thing! Does his behaviour make sense to me if I regard him in that light? Yes. It also explains to me why Bush is so serene and happy now that things look rather bad in many quarters. Because Bush did carry out his sacred mission. He did take down Saddam. He did remake Iraq - well, sort of. And he did lower taxes. He did what Destiny or God told him to do. Now it is up to Destiny or God to keep its part of the bargain, and give everything a splendidly happy ending. And that will happen. Because it must.
Of course, if you don't share George Bush's beliefs, it will seem to you as if he is driving America towards the edge of a cliff, oblivious to all the cries around him imploring him to stop. Would you rather have a President who lies to you about his private life like Bill Clinton did, or would you rather have a President who is locked inside his own reality bubble and who keeps driving his country towards a cliff?
Well. Thankfully the Constitution makes sure that George W. Bush can't be reelected in 2008. If indeed America is on its way towards the edge of a cliff, it will be up to another President to try to steer his or her country away from it.
Ann
