Demagogue

One of the things you hear from time to time is that liberals want things to go badly in Iraq. I don't think it can be denied that it is human (rather than liberal or conservative) to feel a bit of schadenfreude when a politician of the other party messes up or excitement when developments in the world tend to make it more likely that your party is going to do well in the next election. But even though Dubya's approval ratings are so low they're making history, and they're still falling, I've got to say that I'm not feeling very good these days.

Yes, we were right about Iraq. And while a there's a solid minority of the public that still thinks the war was a good idea and has very strong views on the subject, it is a minority. And, similarly, most folks have now figured out what we have been saying for years, namely that Bush and his administration lie regularly and have hardly "restored honor" to the Oval Office. The insane fiscal policy isn't so popular anymore, either. So now that Lincoln's adage about fooling all of the people all of the time is being borne out, we should be gloating, right?

Except I don't feel like it. Bush has been an utter disaster, and he's been so in ways that continually demonstrate that I and others like me were right when most Americans were wrong. Much as I'd like to say, "I told you so," I'm too devastated by what he's done to my country. Thousands of dead American soldiers, tens or even hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, the dismantling of civil liberties, the swelling of the ranks of terrorist organizations, the further immiseration of the poor in America, the ever more rapid destruction of the environment, the crushing public debt, the rocketing antipathy toward the U.S. even among our allies, the cutting and running from Afghanistan, the wave of corruption in Washington, the naked power grabs of the re-redistricters, the attempt to phase out Social Security, the Terri Schiavo insanity, the vilification of anyone who opposes the administration, the trashing of veterans by a cabal of chickenhawks...this is supposed to make me feel good?

Yes, we told you so. But you know what? I wish we had been wrong. The damage these people are doing is going to be with us for decades. I love my country. I don't like to see it treated this way. I wouldn't wish for this to continue any more than I'd wish for a friend to get beaten after spurning my advice to leave her abusive husband.

Update: So don't go buying me this for Christmas.