The most significant and memorable statements in President Bush's lackluster State of the Union address, the phrases that most clearly and succinctly captured the state of his presidency after five years, were his heartfelt and hostile admonishments: "Hindsight alone is not wisdom. And second-guessing is not a strategy."
(This was particularly obnoxious since there are millions of people all over the planet, including in the U.S. who have not second guessed anything and had foresight that the war in Iraq would be a huge boondoggle. As I recall, Junior called us a focus group and said that he could not base his decisions o on the opinions of a focus group.
Well, maybe he should have, because we were RIGHT and he and his NeoCon/TheoCon pals were WRONG!
Bush did not claim to have learned any lessons from the past. Nor did he propose any new strategies. By assailing "hindsight" and "second-guessing," he attempted to deny legitimacy to critics and criticism. He banished analysis of his previous actions from consideration in formulating current or future policy. He denounced "isolationism" but asserted his own isolation. Anyone who does not adhere to the party line must be a dangerous and subversive revisionist. George Santayana ("Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it") is uninvited.
...and will probably be punished for disagreeing, at some pint. Fascism is here, folks, albeit in a uniquely American way.
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