Corenon Soliare Udoo Mahook!

I've recently been persuaded that President Bush is not as evil as I once thought he was. In fact, I'm not even convinced that he's as stupid as I previously thought (which still isn't saying much). Rather, I believe that he is just horribly misguided. His world-view of only hearing and saying good news, loyalty above all, and never admitting mistakes may make him feel better, but it's a lousy way to run a presidency.

For example, President Cheney repeatedly said that he believed that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq. I will concede that this is probably true - there were probably many people in Iraq who wfere happy to see us topple Hussein's brutal government. But we were not welcomed by everyone (Ba'ath Loyalists) and once we ousted Hussein, we should have known that a bitter fight for power would ensue. Because of the speed with which the country has descended into chaos and our seeming inability to cope with it, I find it unlikely President Bush or his advisors seriously considered the opinions of anyone who predicted that this would happen.

It seems to me that he does believe that if we can build a stable democracy in Iraq that it will serve as a catalyst in the region, prompting other countries to follow suit. My response was put best by Aasif Mandvi of the Daily Show, "We are grateful for the opportunity to test out the latest theories from your political scientists."