Iraq II: Bush Père to the Rescue?

As the dust settles from Election Day and the ouster of the defense secretary, attention has turned to what the heck The Decider is going to do about the Mess in Mesopatamia. This in turn has people wigging out over the return of Bush the Elder.

I have two words for this crowd: Chill out.

After an excruciating six years of watching Bush 43's inner circle (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice) screw up everything they touched with a malevolent ineptness that has brought American foreign policy -- and Iraq -- to their knees, Bush 41's posse, which includes James Baker, Brent Scowcroft, as well as Robert Gates, who is Rumsfeld's successor, seems like a breath of fresh (if old) air.

For one thing, this turn of events speaks volumes about Junior's core incompetence: Père has to yet again call the tow truck to get him out of a ditch. Only this time the kid is not running some Oil Patch company into the ground, he's running the country into the ground. It's extraordinary.

Beyond that divine but passing feeling of schadenfeunde, here is what matters:

Bush 41's posse is made up of men who passed on the neoconservative Kool Aid. They always believed that invading and occupying Iraq would be a strategic and political disaster, which is exactly what has come to pass.

As I see it, the trick will be to try to fit thir reality-based universal wrench around the war and wratchet it down.

If they can pull that off, it will be quite a trick.

THE FOUR VIRTUES

Andrew Sullivan is reminded of this exchange between Commodus and Marcus Aurelius in the movie “Gladiator”:

Commodus: You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues. Wisdom, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. As I read the list, I knew I had none of them. But I have other virtues, father. Ambition, that can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness. Courage. Perhaps not on the battlefield, but there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family, to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. Even then, it was as if you didn't want me for your son.

<>Marcus Aurelius: Oh, Commodus, you go too far.

Commodus: I searched the faces of the gods for ways to please you, to make you proud. One kind word, one full hug while you pressed me to your chest and held me tight, would've been like the sun on my heart for a thousand years. What is in me that you hate so much?

Marcus Aurelius: Shh, Commodus.

<>Commodus: All I've ever wanted was to live up to you. Caesar. Father.

(Cartoon by Tony Auth/The Philadelphia Inquirer)