The world is flat because Bush and Cheney say it is flat. So let it be written, so let it be done. -- Hubris
In an 8-31-04 post partially entitled "Time for Kerry to say I'm sorry," we noted what we had said in an 8-29-04 post entitled "Sen. Kerry, the Olympics bring to mind the Greek Tragedies and the word catharsis -- And we Americans are a forgiving people."
Talking about the Greek Tragedies, there is common trait therein in which the main character does not seek not find forgiveness.
The Greeks had a word for this trait: hubris. It was their explanation of why big shots -- the rich, the famous, the powerful -- do the inexplicable things they sometimes do and often destroy themselves doing them.
Sometimes we think of this concept as arrogance.
Three thousand years later, it's still as good an explanation as any of what seems to be going on now in the White House and Number One Observatory Circle, the latter of course being the official residence of the Vice President.
Several months before the RNC the Bush team blatantly demonstrated such characteristics, but these got overshadowed because of Kerry's performance in letting the campaign revolve what Bush wanted to discuss rather than Bush's record, including Iraq.
Now that a true campaign is back on, it is re-emerging. Witness the Bush performance before the United Nations on Tuesday. Without apology or retreat, the president cast the war on terrorism as a defining moment that will usher in democracy across the globe.
UPDATE: The following is from a 9-22-04 N.Y. Times editorial entitled "President Bush's Lead Balloon:"
We did not expect President Bush to come before the United Nations in the middle of his re-election campaign and acknowledge the serious mistakes his administration has made on Iraq. But that still left plenty of room for him to take advantage of this one last chance to appeal to an increasingly antagonistic world to help the Iraqis secure and rebuild their shattered nation and prepare for elections in just four months. Instead, Mr. Bush delivered an inexplicably defiant campaign speech in which he glossed over the current dire situation in Iraq for an audience acutely aware of the true state of affairs, and scolded them for refusing to endorse the American invasion in the first place.
Talking about the Greek Tragedies, there is common trait therein in which the main character does not seek not find forgiveness.
The Greeks had a word for this trait: hubris. It was their explanation of why big shots -- the rich, the famous, the powerful -- do the inexplicable things they sometimes do and often destroy themselves doing them.
Sometimes we think of this concept as arrogance.
Three thousand years later, it's still as good an explanation as any of what seems to be going on now in the White House and Number One Observatory Circle, the latter of course being the official residence of the Vice President.
Several months before the RNC the Bush team blatantly demonstrated such characteristics, but these got overshadowed because of Kerry's performance in letting the campaign revolve what Bush wanted to discuss rather than Bush's record, including Iraq.
Now that a true campaign is back on, it is re-emerging. Witness the Bush performance before the United Nations on Tuesday. Without apology or retreat, the president cast the war on terrorism as a defining moment that will usher in democracy across the globe.
UPDATE: The following is from a 9-22-04 N.Y. Times editorial entitled "President Bush's Lead Balloon:"
We did not expect President Bush to come before the United Nations in the middle of his re-election campaign and acknowledge the serious mistakes his administration has made on Iraq. But that still left plenty of room for him to take advantage of this one last chance to appeal to an increasingly antagonistic world to help the Iraqis secure and rebuild their shattered nation and prepare for elections in just four months. Instead, Mr. Bush delivered an inexplicably defiant campaign speech in which he glossed over the current dire situation in Iraq for an audience acutely aware of the true state of affairs, and scolded them for refusing to endorse the American invasion in the first place.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 5:46 AM
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