March 31, 2007


IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

BUSH'S IMPERIALIST HISTORIAN

In the past several months George W. Bush has represented himself as quite the reader. It reminds me of an old Andy Griffith episode where Goober Pyle claimed he had read hundreds of books. It turns out Goober's reading was comic books, and I suspect Bush's reading might be on the same level. But the administration likes to give itself some intellectual credibility by cozying up to right wing ideologues. We have an example here in the Valley in Victor Davis Hanson, who loves the war in Iraq. The most recent ideologue is a British historian named Andrew Roberts. Roberts claims that the United States is the heir of the British Empire, and that both the British and Americans have advanced the great cause of freedom in the world. That little thing called imperialism is just a minor detail. This article by Jacob Weisberg is at www.slate.com:

At the core of the book is Roberts' notion of what might be called the Super-Special Relationship. When Britain could no longer rule its empire in 1946, he argues, it handed responsibility for the rest of the world over to its successor, the United States. "Just as in science-fiction people are able to live on through cryogenic freezing after their bodies die, so British post-imperial greatness has been preserved and fostered through its incorporation into the American world-historical project," Roberts writes. He views British colonialism and American hegemony as alike in their selfless benevolence and effectiveness. Like Bush, he is peeved that the recipients of our generosity are not more grateful. The answer, Roberts says, "is the first law of modern imperialism: that no good deed goes unpunished."

As a historian, Roberts is present-minded in the extreme, returning at every stage of his narrative to justifications for Bush's actions in Iraq. The neoconservatives who want to spread democracy in the Middle East are the heirs to compassionate Victorians who sought to civilize India, China, and Africa. While the reader is still choking on the casting of Richard Perle as Lord Macaulay, Roberts is hard at work grafting Bush's head onto Winston Churchill's body. The president's prosecution of the war on terror is "vigorous" and "absolutely unwavering." His and Tony Blair's Iraq war has provided "excellent value for money" to the taxpayer. That Bush has brought "full democracy" to Iraq is stated as unequivocal fact.