PASS THE HICKORY

Blood and Iron (Paul J. Cella, 07/07/2003, Tech Central Station)

Now a good many arguments have been made accusing George W. Bush of being a pale aristocrat; a complacent, ill-governed man whose success was inherited. I leave that dreary question aside and say here just this; that when President Bush recently responded to a question about attacks on American troops in Iraq with the defiant goad, "bring 'em on," he was uttering as profoundly democratic a sentiment as has been uttered by a high official in recent memory. "Bring 'em on" is the foreign policy of an infuriated democracy; it embodies the feelings of ten million firemen and electricians and miners, especially firemen and electricians and miners who knew men that died on September 11; and George W. Bush's popularity rests on this embodiment.

Naturally, the foreign policy oligarchy is appalled; because for it democracy is at best an annoyance, at worst a monster. The oligarchy likes to manage, cajole, maintain, occasionally adjust, but rarely disturb, the status quo; it is almost wholly dependent on the status quo, whereas democracy, once aroused, cares nothing for it. Likewise, the Democratic Party is genuinely horrified as well, for reasons which can be sufficiently suggested by asking how the Democrats can possibly secure the union vote when a Republican makes public statements of this nature. President Bush is popular with precisely the constituency that the Democrats claim to represent: the common man.

And thus the democracy is happy; indeed it is grimly amused and even heartened. It hears, "bring 'em on," followed by a predictable round of hand-wringing and fatuous commentary, and it thinks, "He's one of us"; or at least, and perhaps equally appealing, "He's not one of them." And I think it is this naturally democratic camaraderie (and it is important to note that it is quite natural) conveyed by President Bush, which immunizes him to charges of aristocratic irresponsibility by his opponents. The charges are too discordant with reality. To believe that Mr. Bush is a foolish aristocrat, men have to almost believe that they themselves are foolish aristocrats; and if Mr. Bush is indeed irresponsible, which he may well be, it is far nearer to the truth to say that he is a foolish democrat.

This is sort of the twin of Brother Choudhury's point the other day, about Republicans backing big government once they're running it. Conservatives are necessarily isolationist, but once the shooting starts even Mr. Cella can't control his Jacksonian impulses. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 8, 2003 10:18 AM