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CounterPunch
March 8,
2003
A Direct Connection to the
Most High
W's Personal
Jesus
By ANTHONY GANCARSKI
Ann Coulter, the folks at National Review need
you back after all. Because maybe then the neo-con periodical
wouldn't run utter schlock like Paul Kengor's "God &
W at 1600 Penn."
Yes, that's right. The magazine that
never met a bombing run it didn't like holds forth on our Commander-In-Chief's
purported religious proclivities. As you would expect, the piece
is written by the most qualified person imaginable for such a
task; author Paul Kengor is an Associate Professor of Political
Science at Grove City College.
At least that's Kengor's title. His real
role is to enforce one of the most recurrent myths perpetrated
by the Bush White House; namely, that the current President is
motivated primarily by not simply religious faith but something
approaching a direct connection to the Most High. Those who wonder
why so much energy is devoted to making our American Caesar seem
apostolic need only examine the connection between the policies
of this government and the principles laid out by Jesus in the
Gospels.
Because what the US Government does in
the course of its normal business runs directly counter to the
Christ who advised us to forsake earthly riches and do God's
will, the portrayal of Bush as devout believer must be made on
the slant. Kengor follows that rule, putting forth Bush's use
of the phrase "evil ones" as one piece of evidence
of his Christlike demeanor. But this being the Bush White House,
there's no shortage of mawkish claptrap for Professor Kengor
to document.
Kengor describes a Concerned Citizen
"earnestly" asking Bush what she can do to help in
the War of Terror. This question seems to pop up every time Bush
takes questions from those who gave him such a rousing mandate
in 2000, and we of course can assume that to be both utter coincidence
and an indication of how fired up we all are to fight with Terror.
Having been asked this question roughly 213 times, Bush naturally
has a polished response.
Bush wants to be prayed for. ""I
can just feel it, I can't describe it very well, but I feel comforted
by the prayer." Concerned Citizens are to pray for "God's
protection," a "shield of protection" - a "spiritual
shield that protects the country."
Funny, but I don't remember Christ nodding
to the onlookers as he carted his cross up the hill, mouthing
the phrase "pray for me -- the big guy knows what's up".
Bush's position is not that of an actual spiritual seeker bound
up in understanding this Babylon we call home. Rather, his rhetoric
is that of a poser. Of Reverend Ike hawking prayer cloths. Of
Hulk Hogan telling his little Hulksters to pray and take their
vitamins. Of a thousand false idols who are fine and dandy with
religion, as long as they're sitting by God on the bus.
And Bush of course deserves to be up
there with the big man. Kengor is full of descriptions of our
President's "intense piety" affecting the most important
decisions in his life. "I quit drinking in 1986 and haven't
had a drop since then. It wasn't because of a government program
in my case. I heard a higher calling."
No, sir, it wasn't because of a government program. The Bush
clan have always been the kind of folks to pull themselves up
by their bootstraps. Scrappy Prescott Bush made a few extra dollars
in the 30s by trading with the "moderate regime" in
Germany. What a prescient guy, cutting deals with the Thousand
Year Reich! Then there was Bush's dad, who never had to go on
welfare, so busy he was doing hatchet work for the Republican
Party and revitalizing the CIA. No government programs there!
Of course, that's not what Bush is talking
about. He actually seems willing to claim that God facilitated
his recovery from alcoholism. Fine and dandy! Did that same God
sanction Prescott doing business with a wartime enemy? How about
the CIA work W's father did? Or the well-documented affronts
to democracy that took place during Bush 41's tenure?
One can't expect a brownnosing political
science professor to pose those questions to a sitting president,
though. So Kengor sticks to painting absurd scenarios that illustrate
that Bush's faith is his compass. According to Kengor, Bush "has
begun each day praying on his knees. Each morning he reads the
Bible and studies from a guide that features a daily Bible lesson.
It is nothing for him to turn to a Cabinet member and request
a prayer before kicking off a Cabinet meeting."
Well, actually it is something. Does
Bush turn to atheistic or agnostic Cabinet members and ask them
to lead prayers? Because if that's the case, he almost certainly
is violating federal guidelines. Perhaps if Kengor wasn't so
focused on writing a puff piece that meets the highest standards
of North Korean journalism, he'd investigate that matter as closely
as his magazine's Joel Mowbray does US-Saudi relations.
Paul Kengor isn't up for that task, though.
He's got bills to pay, and he'd rather stick to painting the
most powerful man in the world as one of the most spiritual.
So Kengor gives us fluff about Bush going down on "bended
knee" on September 11th. Fluff about "compassion warriors"
telling Bush to "preach on, brother!" Lines that can
only be conscious parody, like "he confidently, calmly plows
ahead. . . Where does he find this confidence, this serenity?
He and his aides point to his wellspring of faith." Despite
producing 1000 words of such genuflection, though, Kengor's conclusion
expresses a marked lack of faith in his essay's central premise:
"God was calling him to seek the Oval Office. It was the
summit in his spiritual sojourn, which would lead him to 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue. Skeptics can make of that what they will.
But in the case of this particular politician, it no doubt seems
sincere. And, importantly, it's a potent factor in the life and
presidency of George W. Bush."
What strikes me here is the passive voice,
a barometer for Kengor's wavering conviction. And he is right
not to be convinced by his own argument. It's hard to imagine
God inspiring such fiascos as our war on Afghanistan, our glaringly
obvious imperial overstretch, our Drug War -- three decades old
now. God's not in favor of rampant deficit spending, if historical
Judaism or the tenets of Islamic finance are any guide. God's
not in favor of the veneration of the state over those who live
in it, but the post 9/11 environment is primarily catered to
the cult of the state. Meanwhile, Washington's bills are long
past due, yet no one has any ideas about how to pay them. One
can only conclude that Bush's connection with God is as much
help right now as his adherence to the principles of fiscal responsibility.
Anthony Gancarski's columns appear regularly in CounterPunch.
Emails are welcome at Anthony.Gancarski@attbi.com
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