I’m a blue-stater. Actually, living in DC and Provincetown makes me navy blue. The people in this small town who have even considered favoring war against Iraq are tiny in number. My friends in similar enclaves say they know of no-one, no-one, who favors war. College-educated yuppies are among the worst. Why? For some, it’s a genuine position, based on thinking through the options. But I keep hearing the discussion end with the invocation of Bush. “He’s a moron.” “How could anyone intelligent support anything such a person advocates?” The position is not one of reasoned opposition. It’s one of complete contempt for anything to do with this administration. Others are noticing the same thing. Here are two emails:
I was discussing the threat Iraq poses and the possibility of war with my uncle. He’s a fairly reasonable guy, he’s middle of the road on most political issues. But recently he’s been prone to making outlandish and vicious attacks on the president and “Bush’s War”. So after an hour of arguing, I asked my uncle point-blank: “Would you have a problem with this president and his policies and the war in Iraq if his name was George Smith and not George Bush, son of a president and former oil tycoon?” His answer: “Probably not.” I’d be willing to bet my uncle isn’t the only person who thinks like this.
That’s my impression too. Then there is a simple hatred of Bush among some educated Americans that still occasionally takes me aback. Again here’s an email:
Since breezy theories are all the rage among the punditocracy these days (your slap at the “intelligentsia” is amusing, given that almost all political and media elites throw themselves at Bush’s feet) try this on for size: Those who support Bush, who cram their theories to fit a man of his stature, are simply afraid to admit to any flaw in him because it will bring the whole house of cards tumbling down. So you invent a jut-jawed man of action, determined and resolute with a clear vision of world harmony. But the whispering in your head won’t stop: he’s a vile and craven little momma’s boy, a snooty insider trader and coward who deserted his National Guard post while the great unwashed were still dying in Vietnam, and who rushed off to save his candy ass on September 11 and invented a lie about Air Force one being a target while the great unwashed were once again dying under the rubble. But you’re too damned afraid to admit it. Sick of it? Too bad.
My hunch is that there’s nothing Bush can do about this. But the more successful he is as a president, the worse it will get. Payback, in part, I suppose, for conservative demonization of Clinton. And just as self-destructive for the haters.
The Dish 