(WP) Vedantam: "In his mind, the president has run an alternate view of history"

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/29/AR2007072900973.html



Bush and Counterfactual Confidence

In the face of mounting public and political opposition to the war in Iraq, recent reports from the White House suggest that President Bush remains serenely confident.

Bush's confidants report that the president believes he will be vindicated by history. He keeps Churchill and Lincoln close at hand. No matter how tough the situation in Iraq, Bush remains confident about his decision to go to war because he believes that things would have been much worse otherwise.

"Obviously, it was a difficult decision for me to make -- to send our brave troops, along with coalition troops, into Iraq," Bush said at a recent press briefing about the Iraq situation, where he faced a barrage of questions about flagging support for the war. "I firmly believe the world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power."

Bush's argument is based on something known as a counterfactual. In his mind, the president has run an alternate view of history -- one that imagines Saddam Hussein still in power -- and has come to the conclusion that deposing the Iraqi leader was better.

...

But what is dangerous about counterfactuals is that while they may seem reasonable, they easily become a way for us to confirm what we already feel. Bush might not conclude that the war was the right decision because he has reached for a downward counterfactual; he might have reached for a downward counterfactual because he feels the war in Iraq is right.

[Solly Mack]

1. k/r

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. In twenty years, the winners are going to be (re?)writing the history

I can hear one of my Con friends now with one of these two statements:
1) "See? I told you everything was going to be just fine. Bush was right all along!"
2) "If that Democrat weasel of a President hadn't screwed everything up! Bush was right all along!"

[havocmom]

3. Swell, not just delusional, but delusional & talking to dead people?

"He keeps Churchill and Lincoln close at hand."

He thinks he is in that class? Does he really think invading a nation that did NOTHING to us equals fighting Hitler? Same as the US Civil War? Do Churchill and Lincoln tell him it'll be fine?

The boy just ain't right.

[Ikonoklast]

4. Hmmm.....ok.

Well, I can see how he keeps Churchill close at hand, after all, Winston was intent on keeping the British Empire intact after WWII, even if it meant sacrificing lives in strategic military and political moves that had the exact opposite effect from his desired results.

After the war, Britain was marginalized on the world stage by American hegemony, and the Empire shattered.

We have learned NOTHING from even recent history.