Forget the Incompetence

It seems obvious once you see the words in print; I not uncommonly wince when I hear someone railing about presidential incompetence and stupidity. Lord, I fess I have given in to the temptation at times myself - it's almost irresistible I guess at certain transition points in one's emotional phase diagram. It's extremely frustrating for many of us that this fake folksy schmuck has been able to gain such wealth and power with no evidence that he has any actual interest in anyone but himself, a dime's worth of personal capability, or a nickel's worth of accountability. He's obviously a total dufuss on every level - but a dufuss who is evil enough to cause thousands of deaths rather than give up his evil ways. (I'm off in the corner now, counting to calmness.)

But as with other strongly-worded arguments I have read lately (the imperative to not ignore the rantings of the Coulter-spawn comes to mind), this post by George Lakoff, Marc Ettlinger, and Sam Ferguson seems pretty persuasive that there is a danger in becoming attached to - or even smug over - the incompetence meme.

Progressives have fallen into a trap. Emboldened by President Bush’s plummeting approval ratings, progressives increasingly point to Bush's "failures" and label him and his administration as incompetent. For example, Nancy Pelosi said “The situation in Iraq and the reckless economic policies in the United States speak to one issue for me, and that is the competence of our leader."

Self-satisfying as this criticism may be, it misses the bigger point. Bush’s disasters — Katrina, the Iraq War, the budget deficit — are not so much a testament to his incompetence or a failure of execution. Rather, they are the natural, even inevitable result of his conservative governing philosophy. It is conservatism itself, carried out according to plan, that is at fault. Bush will not be running again, but other conservatives will. His governing philosophy is theirs as well. We should be putting the onus where it belongs, on all conservative office holders and candidates who would lead us off the same cliff. To Bush’s base, his bumbling folksiness is part of his charm — it fosters conservative populism. Bush plays up this image by proudly stating his lack of interest in reading and current events, his fondness for naps and vacations and his self-deprecating jokes. This image causes the oppositionto underestimate his capacities — disregarding him as a complete idiot — and deflects criticism of his conservative allies. If incompetence is the problem, it’s all about Bush. But, if conservatism is the problem, it is about a set of ideas, a movement and its many adherents. The idea that Bush is incompetent is a curious one. Consider the following (incomplete) list of major initiatives the Bush administration, with a loyal conservative Congress, has accomplished:

• Centralizing power within the executive branch to an unprecedenteddegree
• Starting two major wars, one started with questionable intelligenceand in a manner with which the military disagreed
• Placing on the Supreme Court two far-right justices, and stacking thelower federal courts with many more
• Cutting taxes during wartime, an unprecedented event
• Passing a number of controversial bills such as the PATRIOT Act, theNo Child Left Behind Act, the Medicare Drug bill, the Bankruptcy bill and anumber of massive tax cuts
• Rolling back and refusing to enforce a host of basic regulatoryprotections
• Appointing industry officials to oversee regulatory agencies
• Establishing a greater role for religion through faith-basedinitiatives
• Passing Orwellian-titled legislation assaulting the environment —“The Healthy Forests Act” and the “Clear Skies Initiative” — to deforestpublic lands, and put more pollution in our skies
• Winning re-election and solidifying his party’s grip on Congress

These aren’t signs of incompetence. As should be painfully clear, the Bush administration has been overwhelmingly competent in advancing its conservative vision. It has been all too effective in achieving its goals by determinedly pursuing a conservative philosophy. It’s not Bush the man who has been so harmful, it’s the conservative agenda.

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