The Smithian

There was George Bush himself, on Thursday…at the dedication of the Presidential library whose archives will hold evidence of the disaster of his war. It is important to…wonder which Iraqi ghost we are confronting. We have heard about false intelligence before, and, rightly, want to know why it’s different this time. But there is also the question of how to deal with chemical weapons if you do know that they’re there. If, in the first few days in Iraq, we had secured a cache of sarin, would we now be content with the images from Fallujah, with the bungling of the occupation, with the terrible human price that ordinary Iraqis paid? The falsity of the opening adds a sordid layer to it all—but war, even scrubbed of lies, isn’t pretty. Of course, unlike in Iraq, Syria is already engaged in an increasingly unhinged civil war, and, in a basic, human, way, we are…keen to do something. But what? 

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art: A Free Syrian Army fighter practiced using a Dragunov semiautomatic sniper rifle during training exercises in the countryside outside of Homs in June 2012

…post-disaster aid didn’t use to work this way. Last year, however, congressional Republicans came up with an entirely new standard when it came to emergency relief: Congress will consider helping struggling Americans and devastated communities, but only if Democrats accept comparable spending cuts…The same GOP lawmakers who saw no need to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tax cuts for millionaires, or the Wall Street bailout said American communities struck by a natural disaster can get help, but only if the costs of the aid are offset elsewhere, penny for penny. It was a standard without precedent.

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…provides an air of level-headedness that challenges commonly held misperceptions prevalent throughout all sectors of football.

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…the president who won the Nobel Peace Prize less than nine months after his inauguration has turned out to be one of the most militarily aggressive American leaders in decades…Liberals…probably don’t celebrate all of the president’s many military accomplishments. But they are sizable.

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The president was more somber than in our past interviews—and less inclined to depart from the handful of themes he had been concentrating on in recent weeks. He avoided discussing Mitt Romney, even when asked a direct question, and focused primarily on the very real constraints he operates under as president, from the intransigence of Congress to the dilemma of America’s anti-drug laws. He also seemed intent on summing up the arguments he’ll soon be taking out on the campaign trail, making clear that he plans to run on his remarkable record of accomplishments: extending health insurance to 32 million Americans, staving off a major economic collapse, rescuing the auto industry, reforming student loans, ending discrimination against gay soldiers, pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, killing Osama bin Laden, and passing one of the largest middle-class tax cuts in history. The hourlong discussion was the longest and most substantive interview the president has granted in over a year.

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