Let the roosting begin…
President Bush finds himself in an interesting political pickle caused in part, in my opinion, by his administration’s crusader rhetoric since 9/11. I have no idea if it’s a good plan to contract with Dubai Ports World, a state-owned company based in the United Arab Emirates, to run some American ports. A professor here at Missouri State is worried about it.
In order to get the American people to agree to attack a country without provocation (spare me, please) one must resort to the kind of propaganda first perfected during World War I: demonize the enemy specifically by race or nationality or culture. A little (manufactured) fear of nuclear holocaust doesn’t hurt, either.
If you teach Americans to hate and fear the people of the Middle East (think: evil-doers), is it any wonder they would react viscerally to the idea of turning over our ports–by nearly all accounts our biggest weakness in national security–to the United Arab Emirates?
Just take a look at the online poll (certainly not scientific) at the Springfield News-Leader (see top item in the sidebar on the left). This is Bush country, the land of Roy Blunt–a conservative town in a conservative corner of a conservative state.
UPDATE (27 February): The online poll mentioned above is no longer available.
He’s facing a similar business v. base dilemma on immigration, exacerbated in no small part because of the xenophobic sabre-rattling.
The port matter also poses an interesting rhetorical choice for the opposition, no? As Glenn Greenwald put it yesterday,
What’s the Democrats’ ethos quotient here?
re: ethos quotient
My advice: steadfast concern–understated–but certainly grave–the short grimace and headshake– “We stand ready to work with the President now to make a better choice…”