Where did the anger go?
One thing that I find interesting watching the politics of the Iraq war is that the anger against this war is not nearly as real as it was before the war even started. If you look back to the moments before this war, there was an unprecedented activism around this war. As someone who marched (with Pro-America, Anti-War signs) in the demonstrations before the war, I can tell you that I have never seen such intense opposition to a policy in my life to date. And yet now that the war has gone far worse than even its critics worried, and the country has clearly united against stay the course, there are hardly any protests. Where did the anger go?
My question is one that I feel very personally because my own vociferous anger over this war has somehow declined even as the urgency for change has increased. I think for me a lot of it has to do with the fact that you feel like you are speaking to deaf ears. Even after our initial protests — and indeed even after the election and the Iraq study group — it is not clear that this democratically elected president really sees himself as much as a democratic leader as a stalwart commander-in-chief. He is “the decider” and somehow his strategy seems to work — tell people you’re the decider and they will believe you and quiet down.
Hopefully, if the President continues to sidestep the ISG report, he may be faced with protests like those that proceeded this war. Of course, these protests would recognize the bravery and courage of our troops. And that’s precisely why we would be out there — to say that their bravery and courage deserves a commander in chief at the top with a coherent plan for victory.
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America sits complacent seemingly happy with the current set of affairs and seems perfectly willing to let this corrupt no good keep calling the shots..If America hasn’t seen through his smoke screen yet then were all morally responsible for the innocent lives that have been wasted on a war that was manipulated from the beginning. Do you really think the rest of the world will ever come to our defence again ? Our tarnished nation will pay the consequenses for a life time ahead unless all americans at this time stand together shoulder to shoulder demanding that those responsible for the events that took place from 9-11 on be held responsible for the crimes committed. Nothing else will make things right until we show the rest of the world our laws and our order applies” yes” even to our highest offices including the president of the United States.
Comment on December 28, 2006 @ 11:24 pm
Part of the problem is that after the war started, the “responsible” middle-class liberals quickly started fretting that the anti-war dissidents were too “angry.” (For example, see the SALON article titled, “Should Democrats get mad, or get even?”) One result was that in 2004 the Democrats threw away their best chance of defeating Dubya because they accepted the official line that Howard Dean’s “anger” made him unelectable. (We’ll never know, will we?) And it didn’t help that the mainstream anti-war movement put all its eggs in the basket of electing John Kerry.
Comment on January 2, 2007 @ 9:44 pm