Why Didn’t He Speak Up Earlier?
That’s the question current and former Bush Administration officials are raising about Scott McClellan’s book on his time in the Bush White House. In the book, McClellan has harsh words for Bush and his administration, calling the war in Iraq misguided. He claims to still have great respect for the president, but makes it clear that he is out to spill the beans, not sooth wounds.
Can you imagine McClellan, Deputy Press Secretary, raise concerns during the buildup to the Iraq war? “Umm… Mr. President? Just one thing – I think you are using propaganda to sell this war, and that the team of experts you have assembled is probably wrong. Maybe we should not go to war? What do you think?” If he did that more than a couple of times, I suspect he would have been let go pretty quickly. Why would a low-level staff member have any say in planning a war? He could have raised concerns every day; it wouldn’t have changed anything, and those same folks would probably have the same criticisms when his book came out.
No, the only really weird thing about McClellan’s book is why he is choosing to commit career suicide. The money must be really good, or he has a new fixation on “truth”, something curiously absent during his tenure as Press Secretary. The problem with his book is that we already know this stuff. The only new information he offers is that someone can see clearly once outside the administration’s fog of ignorance.
I never liked McClellan at all, and I’m not all that interested in reading his book. He’s gotten himself into a fair whirlwind of trouble, so I feel for the guy in that way, but he still claims to respect the president. Scott – after all you’ve been thru, and all you’ve had to say in your book, why the front? You’re sick of Bush like the rest of us. Maybe it’s because the two of you have so much in common: two schlubs who got caught in the high-stakes game of world diplomacy and came out big losers.
Related posts (automatically generated):