Welcome to Bush Fantasy Land: The Sequel

It has been said that George W. Bush is in denial of reality, in Iraq and elsewhere. But what of America itself? More particularly, what of the majority of Americans who re-elected him?

They had the right to their democratic choice. Still, what sort of nation rewards a leader who misled it into war, spawned worldwide anger, eroded America's moral authority, turned the Iraqi occupation into a showcase for American ineptitude, and increased terrorism?

The same sort that also:

• Accepts the death of 100,000 Iraqis as unavoidable road kill by a rampaging giant avenging its 3,000 dead on 9/11, even though Iraq had nothing to do with that terrorist atrocity.

• Dismisses the missing weapons of mass destruction, the raison d'tre for the war, as irrelevant.

• Tolerates breaches of the rule of law at home while preaching democracy abroad. 

Of course, nearly half the American electorate is as upset as the rest of the world, if not more so, and has fallen into shell-shocked silence since Nov. 2. Bush promised to reach out to them. But, as usual, his words and deeds never did connect.

Donald Rumsfeld stays on. Colin Powell goes out. Condoleezza Rice gets a promotion. So does Alberto Gonzales, the White House consigliere who justified torture. All will dance to the drumbeat of Dick Cheney's next war, perhaps on Iran.

Tax cuts are to continue, worsening the record deficit (already at 5 per cent of the GDP).

Social security is to be privatized, in the name of fixing it. 

Medicare is to stay private, leaving 45 million citizens uncovered. 

Democracy, too, is being handed over to corporate interests and lobbies. 

Bankrolling much of this week's $40 million presidential inaugural, as also last summer's $200 million Republican and Democratic conventions and the $1 billion election in between, they will get a return on investment through government contracts and licences, along with the policy changes they are bound to dictate.

As the trumpets herald the president's second term, 81 prisoners held in Afghanistan for three years are freed as a gesture of "reconciliation" on today's Islamic festival of Eid - a Bush twist on the old autocratic custom of arbitrary arrest and equally arbitrary release at Christmas and on the king's birthday.

Afghans and Iraqis are yet to get clean drinking water, steady electricity or medicine. Most cannot venture outside without risking their lives.

Those Iraqis who make it to the polling booths Jan. 30 will vote for candidates they have never seen or heard from.

Malnutrition among Iraqi children has doubled under the occupation. The risk of death for Iraqis is 58 times higher, according to the same Johns Hopkins University study that said its count of 100,000 dead is "a conservative estimate."

Equally revealing are America's bilateral relationships.

Bush is at loggerheads with most democracies but closest to autocracies. In the Muslim world, he is chummy with petro-monarchs but distant from the leaders of emerging democracies Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia.

To neighbours Mexico and Canada, he poses a unique problem. To protect trade, their leaders must do what their publics don't want them to. Paul Martin must sign on to the missile defence shield, tilt toward Israel and censure Liberals who echo their constituents.

Surveying the scenes of these military and political disasters, Bush sees only the need for better public relations and more spin. "We've got to continue to do a better job of explaining what America is all about."

Haroon Siddiqui is the Toronto Star's editorial page editor emeritus. His column appears Thursday and Sunday. [email protected]