During the ritual Passover seder this Wednesday, a song will be sung called Dayenu, literally, “Enough for us.” Each of God’s actions would have been enough, it says, but God continued to give and give. So in that holiday spirit, here is a play on that theme, not about God but about the Bush Administration. This former semi-supporter would have been able to excuse each failure and mistake — no administration is perfect — but the blunders kept coming. Now, I say, it’s enough, and in retrospect, it should have been enough at each step of the way.
It should have been enough when intelligence services dropped the ball on 9/11 and Iraq — but we could blame that on Clinton. It should have been enough when they turned war heroism and mushroom clouds into campaign weapons — but campaigns are rough. It should have been enough when they fired General Shinseki for saying we’d need more troops in Iraq — but the troops had to be kept in line. It should have been enough when they exaggerated questionable intelligence about Saddam’s weapons programs — but our allies believed it, too.
It should have been enough when they leaked classified information to attack political opponents; threatened to fire the leaker; then used the leaks to attack the media, when the president had authorized the leaks all along.
It should have been enough when they used Terry Schiavo to stir up the fanatic base, and pushed a gay marriage ban before the election to get out the bigot vote.
It should have been enough when they tied AIDS and poverty relief to abstinence programs, and opposed sex education in schools because the theocrats felt uncomfortable.
It should have been enough when Afghanistan was abandoned before the job was done and replaced on the agenda by Iraq, which became the front in the War on Terror only by a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It should have been enough when ten years of Iraq war planning were thrown out because, as in the campaign, they opposed nation-building when they rushed to Baghdad without enough troops to stop the looting; and when they declared “Mission Accomplished” just as the real war was heating up.
It should have been enough when a State Department representative told Ted Koppel on Nightline that the war would cost no more than $1.7 billion, only to have the cost surpass a trillion dollars with no end in sight.
It should have been enough when Iraq reconstruction management was given to kids out of college; when no-bid contracts were handed out like playing cards; and when billions in cash went “unaccounted for.”
It should have been enough when post-war Iraq czar Paul Bremer fired all the teachers and bureaucrats because they had mandatory party cards, then sent home the Iraqi army unpaid and armed.
It should have been enough when “oil addiction” was the theme of the State of the Union, after the Energy Task Force, a cabal of oil company executives, met in secret with Dick Cheney.
It should have been enough when 9/11 became a whip to snap at opponents and skeptics; when every attack on American soldiers was called terrorism; when the insurgency’s existence was denied, then was “in its last throes”; when no prediction, no matter how blatantly absurd in retrospect, was ever regretted; and when no member of the inner circle, no matter how incompetent, was ever fired.
It should have been enough when the reason-of-the-month club for the Iraq war told us about chemicals, then mushroom clouds, then tyranny, then democracy; and when Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of people, but civilian casualties of the war and occupation were deliberately not counted.
It should have been enough when the president knew less about New Orleans than Brian Williams; and when heck-of-a-job Brownie was scapegoated for the failures of the Homeland Security department, which was slopped into place overnight because the administration didn’t want it in the first place.
It should have been enough when ol’ pal Harriet Miers was nominated to the Supreme Court, then dropped because she wasn’t anti-abortion enough for the extremists.
It should have been enough when every speech was about evil and terror and enemies, but suddenly we were supposed to think with nuance about Dubai.
It should have been enough when no one in the White House had heard of Jack Abramoff (because after all, the president had terrible relations with Congress); and when they insisted that they “don’t comment on ongoing legal proceedings” about indicted staffer Scooter Libby, even when the president pronounced Tom DeLay “innocent.”
It should have been enough when low-ranking kids were scapegoated for Abu Ghraib; and when the torture bill was opposed, then supported, then nullified with a secret signing letter (because God or the terrorists anointed the president above the law).
It should have been enough when North Korea got nukes (those commies are crazy) and Iran wanted nukes (those terrorists are crazy), then India got a free pass on its nukes.
It should have been enough when the president was asked what mistakes he had made and he couldn’t name a single one. Here are a few. Enough passing the buck. Happy Holidays.
Ben Buckman, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at [email protected].
