- Every once in a while, ordinary voters get a chance to
peek behind the curtain that hides the real face of power. Such a moment
happened last weekend, during an interview with the secretary of state,
Colin Powell, on America's most watched Sunday political talk show, Meet
the Press.
-
- The veteran interviewer Tim Russert was asking his last
question of Powell, who was joining him via satellite from Jordan, when
the camera suddenly swung away and viewers heard the voice of a State Department
media minder off camera declare: "You're off."
-
- The argument that ensued between Powell, the press aide
and Russert was rebroadcast in its entirety and was more revealing of this
administration's can-do-no-wrong attitude than any public campaign exchange.
-
- Powell, who could still hear NBC's Russert in his ear,
responded, "I am not off. He's still asking the questions." "He
was going to go on for another five minutes," retorted the unrelenting
staffer.
-
- At this point Russert chimed in: "I would hope they
would put you back on camera... I think that was one of your staff... I
don't think that's appropriate." Powell finally shut down his aide,
Emily Miller: "Emily, get out of the way. Bring back the camera please."
-
- Russert got the chance to ask his last question of Powell,
on how he felt now about all the bogus intelligence he was given to present
as fact to the UN in the month before the war. But a much larger point
had already been made: with the possible exception of Colin Powell, this
administration believes itself to be beyond criticism.
-
- The Soviet-style manner in which Republican operative
Miller, who used to work for the majority leader, Tom "the Hammer"
DeLay, tried to muzzle an interviewer once the questioning no longer pleased
her betrayed an arrogance that goes to the core of this White House.
-
- This isn't the first time the Bush White House has unknowingly
revealed itself on tape. At an Illinois rally during the 2000 campaign,
the then candidate George Bush called a New York Times reporter an asshole.
His comments were picked up and relayed to the world by an unnoticed camera
mike. Bush refused to apologise.
-
- Back then, the gaffe was laughed off as part of the machismo
of campaigning. In fact, the denigration of an NYT journalist was thought
to have actually boosted Bush's numbers with the stock-car racing crowd.
-
- That early example of self-ordained impunity was the
beginning of a consistent pattern of behaviour. Four years on, the seeds
of this administration's hubris are springing up all over.
-
- A month after the world pulled back the veil on the seamy
details of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, the Bush spin machine
would like people to believe that the outrageous actions of the prison
guards were isolated incidents by a few bad apples.
-
- But documents that this White House hoped would never
see the light of day clearly show that it created the atmosphere where
such abuses could take place.
-
- The legal opinion of White House counsel Alberto Gonzales
- that the US should ignore the Geneva Convention in its global "war
on terror" - is evidence that something close to an Ðbermensch
complex has travelled down from the top.
-
- Despite protestations that this memo was meant to apply
only to Taliban and al-Qaida suspects at Guant·namo - itself a questionable
position - it is clear that US commanders in the Iraqi theatre used it
to justify applying torture there as an interrogation technique.
-
- Those in Bush's inner circle reconciled themselves to
this suspension of morality long ago. They live in a bubble in which everything
is permitted militarily and politically in the pursuit of total victory.
Their approach to the Iraq campaign is the same as their approach to all
things: " We can do anything we want to win. We can do no wrong. We
will brook no dissent. "
-
- The last time the curtain went up to reveal power so
ugly and unchecked was Watergate, when hours of Oval Office tape recordings
showed the world the true nature of the Nixon administration.
-
- Voters are not likely to experience anything quite as
satisfying again. But occasionally, despite the best efforts of White House
news managers - and sometimes because of them - the curtain momentarily
blows open to give us all a glimpse of what is really going on.
-
- It is John Kerry's job to fill in the blanks, paint a
fuller picture for the American people and present a leadership vision
of which we can all be proud.
-
- - Philip James is a former senior Democratic party strategist
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/comment/story/0,14259,1221856,
00.html
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