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Date: | Wed, 2 Oct 2002 11:29:50 EDT |
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MoveOn Bulletin
> DOMESTIC ISSUES OBSCURED BY THE CONSTANT TALK OF WAR
> If you beat the war drum loudly enough, can you drown out discussion of all
> other domestic issues? It certainly seems like the Bush administration is
> trying. The rush to war is dominating the US agenda, drawing attention away
> from a whole host of pressing problems. While Iraq remains the focus of the
> nightly news, congressional discussion, and the campaign trail, other
> issues naturally fade into the background. And this is the most helpful
> place for them to remain if President Bush wants to maintain his approval
> rating. Whether or not the Iraq war is a case of "wag the dog," it is
> certainly diverting attention from policies that might otherwise be
> threatening the current administration's very existence. The ailing economy
> is perhaps the biggest and most obvious problem facing the US at the
> moment. The stock market is doing poorly. The deficit is growing. Millions
> of people have lost their jobs. The Bush administration's budgeting
> demonstrates a policy of going after social spending, especially to finance
> expensive war efforts. The problems with the economy seem to have a very
> close relationship with Bush's tax cuts, and with the ever growing costs of
> Bush's war policies. Several other major issues have also been pushed off
> the front page (but just barely). Details of energy and corporate scandals
> continue to surface, but the coverage of Iraq has muted the stories.
> Environmental issues are treated as inconsequential, despite the fact that
> by many accounts, the US is speeding up the probability of climactic
> disaster by killing the Kyoto Protocol and instituting oil-friendly
> policies at home. Trade problems have driven up the price of steel and
> lumber domestically, and could possibly spark punishing trade wars with
> powerful entities such as the European Union. These issues can't be
> sidelined forever. Pollution doesn't fix itself; poverty and illness won't
> just go away. So while President Bush prosecutes a war on Iraq in the name
> of national security, our security is silently slipping away.
>
A CLASSIC CASE OF MISDIRECTION
>
> The Email Activist provides an excellent statement on the current
> situation: "The Bush administration’s domestic policy has been an utter
> failure for everyone except the wealthy. The gap between the rich and poor
> continues to grow. The budget surplus that prompted last year’s raid on the
> Treasury turned out to be an accounting fiction. Rampant corporate
> corruption on an unregulated Wall Street has wiped out the life savings and
> retirement portfolios of countless citizens and has eliminated thousands of
> jobs. And since September 11, our constitutional rights have been vanishing
> faster than al-Qaeda operatives . . . So why has all this bad news pretty
> much disappeared from the national radar screen? The answer is Iraq. The
> Bush team is successfully manipulating the media (and the Congress) into
> shifting all attention away from its shameful failures by announcing its
> intention to take out Saddam Hussein. It’s a classic case of misdirection.
> Like a pickpocket, the Bush administration is stealing your wallet with one
> hand while distracting you with the other one."
>
>
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