I Cogitate
| Recent Posts | My Best Blogs | Archives | Favorite Quotes | Links | Contact |
Dowd's, not Kafka's, Metamorphosis
Boy oh boy oh boy! Of all the so-called 'turncoats' and renegades, Matthew Dowd has to hurt George Bush the most, both personally and politically.
Once a true believer, back when Bush was being led by a lieutenant governor who was a Democrat and not an off-the-charts wingnut like Dick Cheney and a we-must-politicize-everything strategist in Karl Rove, Dowd saw there was a degree of humility in Bush and a willingness--call it a necessity really as that's what it was--for cooperation.
But there was also far, far less to deal with in running a very conservative state where two or three issues issues might stand out at most--none critical nor code red, versus the emergency du jour status in helming the most powerful country in the world.
But tellingly, that hand-in-hand, Kum-ba-ya atmosphere dissipated when it was no longer required, a la 2000-2007 and counting. The actual George W. Bush came to the fore and apparently Dowd was able to convince himself that so many decisions and events were but anomalies. He saw what he wanted to see for a long time but the incongruency between this and day-to-day reality began interfering and subverting his idealized picture.
George Bush could have chosen to unite but such is truly not him. He remains a tormented soul, the anguish evident in his everyday interactions and his twisted governmental policies. The need for power, control and vengeance swirl so strongly within Bush and unless somehow held in check by internal or external forces, he succumbs to his very dark side. That, combined with a warped spirituality that, rather than infusing humility, has corrupted and damaged him further, resulting in a sense of grandeur.
Deciding to surround himself with the likes of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and he-who-shames-Machiavelli, Karl Rove, the aide-de-camp always conniving and manipulating to extend the tentacles of dominion and subjugation to any and every avenue of government, is oh so telling for Bush.
Matthew Dowd apparently couldn't see it then but had inklings. Dowd has a conscience, maybe a late developing one but seemingly genuine. He is not looking for personal or professional gain here but rather is trying to regain his moral compass and determining the priorities for the remainder of his life. He has begun his internal journey and a degree of metamorphosis is taking place.
That is much more than can be said for those currently in charge in D.C.
Ex-Aide Details a Loss of Faith in the PresidentRead the rest here.
By Jim Rutenberg
New York Times
April 1, 2007
AUSTIN, Tex., March 29 In 1999, Matthew Dowd became a symbol of George W. Bush’s early success at positioning himself as a Republican with Democratic appeal.
A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush’s political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president’s chief campaign strategist.
Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced.
In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.
He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a “my way or the highway” mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides.
“I really like him, which is probably why I’m so disappointed in things,” he said. He added, “I think he’s become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in.”
In speaking out, Mr. Dowd became the first member of Mr. Bush’s inner circle to break so publicly with him.
He said his decision to step forward had not come easily. But, he said, his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s presidency is so great that he feels a sense of duty to go public given his role in helping Mr. Bush gain and keep power.
Mr. Dowd, a crucial part of a team that cast Senator John Kerry as a flip-flopper who could not be trusted with national security during wartime, said he had even written but never submitted an op-ed article titled “Kerry Was Right,” arguing that Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and 2004 presidential candidate, was correct in calling last year for a withdrawal from Iraq.
“I’m a big believer that in part what we’re called to do to me, by God; other people call it karma is to restore balance when things didn’t turn out the way they should have,” Mr. Dowd said. “Just being quiet is not an option when I was so publicly advocating an election.”
Mr. Dowd’s journey from true believer to critic in some ways tracks the public arc of Mr. Bush’s political fortunes. But it is also an intensely personal story of a political operative who at times, by his account, suppressed his doubts about his professional role but then confronted them as he dealt with loss and sorrow in his own life...
top
RSS feed
| Recent Posts | My Best Blogs | Archives | Favorite Quotes | Links | Contact |