Though I must admit, grudgingly, that I was with the President on the ports issue. It would've made little difference in our port safety (lousy before, lousy after), and it would've shown that we could work with fairly progressive Arab countries.
I wouldn't say that i was with the President, but i was very skeptical of the sudden and intense resistance from all parts of Congress. And, of course, it was because the President's deal was favoring all of his own people and none of Congress's. As for the "working with fairly progressive Arab countries"... seriously, c'mon. Money, man, money.
Well, clearly, it was about money. After all, it was a business deal. But it still could be spun to supporting an Arab country that is about as Western as they come.
Oh, yeah, the whole security thing is completely absurd and a little disturbing. On one hand, I'm really unhappy about the reaction to the deal, since what it's basically saying is that this country is becoming more and more racist, and racism is exactly how it's going to come across to everyone in the region. On the other hand, the schadenfreude inherent in Bush being hoisted on his own petard by the racism and paranoia that he's been preaching for the last six years almost makes it all worth it.
I don't think it's fair to say that Bush has been preaching racism. He's always been very careful about that. However, he's always been very patronizing towards the Middle East, and i suppose there's some inherent racism in that.
He's been preaching Islamic menace pretty hard. He has given lip service to not making that racist, and every once in a while says something about "good Islam," but honestly that strikes me more as ass-covering than any real attempt at countering the underlying racist message.
The average US citizen is not particularly good at drawing distinctions between Arab and Moslem, let alone between extremist and non-extremist and all of the other variations. I think Bush knows that perfectly well and was actively exploiting that to push his case for war. Now that it's getting in the way of doing business, it bothers him a lot, but it sure was serving his purposes earlier.
But your point about how these people he wants to do business with are his people is well-taken.
I see the dynamic in a similar way. However, I think it'd be more accurate to say that Bush is being hoisted on his own petard by the xenophobia, jingoism, and paranoia that he's been preaching for the last six years...
Yeah, you may well be right, although Bush's gestures towards not being racist strike me more as ass-covering than anything else. It does feel to me like he's actively taken advantage of the difficulties the US public has in distinguishing between Islamic and Arabic, let alone between extremism and not.
We need a word like racism that instead refers to religion. That would be a more accurate charge.
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syntheid
no subject
Date: 2006-03-12 03:55 pm (UTC)Wow.
Though I must admit, grudgingly, that I was with the President on the ports issue. It would've made little difference in our port safety (lousy before, lousy after), and it would've shown that we could work with fairly progressive Arab countries.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-12 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-12 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-12 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-12 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-12 11:13 pm (UTC)The average US citizen is not particularly good at drawing distinctions between Arab and Moslem, let alone between extremist and non-extremist and all of the other variations. I think Bush knows that perfectly well and was actively exploiting that to push his case for war. Now that it's getting in the way of doing business, it bothers him a lot, but it sure was serving his purposes earlier.
But your point about how these people he wants to do business with are his people is well-taken.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-13 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-13 12:17 am (UTC)Yeah, you may well be right, although Bush's gestures towards not being racist strike me more as ass-covering than anything else. It does feel to me like he's actively taken advantage of the difficulties the US public has in distinguishing between Islamic and Arabic, let alone between extremism and not.
We need a word like racism that instead refers to religion. That would be a more accurate charge.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-13 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-13 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-14 04:24 am (UTC)