The Truth About Iraq Will Set Us Free, Not Spin and Hype

Seems that the White House agrees with media guru and top blogger Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine when he wrote recently about the Iraq War...."...we continue to see that the war at home is a war of PR. Now I know that many couldn't stand when I cast the Bush execution of his policy and the Downing Street Memo in the light of PR. Fine. But the impression of the war in Iraq -- the bad news and good news, the perception of progress or lack of progress, the enmity or optimism of the Iraqis themselves -- obviously has a very direct impact on the support for the war here, witness the polls, and thus the execution of it in Iraq. "

The Washington Post reports today,"...the president's full-speed-ahead message articulated in this week's prime-time address also reflects a purposeful strategy based on extensive study of public opinion about how to maintain support for a costly and problem-plagued military mission. The White House recently brought onto its staff one of the nation's top academic experts on public opinion during wartime, whose studies are now helping Bush craft his message two years into a war with no easy end in sight. "

I do need to fully disclose that Mr. Jarvis consults to About.com, which is owned by the New York Times . Nonetheless, I'm just not one to go for opinion polls and public relations over substance and humanity, over a corrupt war that threatens to bankrupt our country, a war effort that recruits naive teenagers to be needless gun fodder in a violent foreign country. Lying to Congress and ignoring the US Constitution is not spin; it's a felony.

I guess that's what happens when one perceives the world, and mankind, only through opinion polls and a public relations lens, as does the Bush Administration. (I don't know that Mr. Jarvis does that, but his blog post indicates that he regards US anger over the Iraq War to be symptomatic only of a public relations campaign gone awry.)

The simple fact is that the public relations/advertising view of the world eventually confuses popularity with morals and truth, right and wrong. But all the PR spin in the world doesn't make up for the truth, which will always eventually come out. This self-dubbed Christian administration seems to forget that their very Savior preached that "...the truth will set you free." --John 8:32.
-------------------------
The interesting story here is that the famously effective Bush/Rove PR machine is, at last, failing the administration. It's widely acknowledged that the Bush Administration won the last election due to its mastery of the media and extraordinary uses of sound bytes and public perceptions.

The other half of this story is that Democrats have utterly failed to craft a coherent message or establish new rapport with the American public despite the failing and corrupt Iraq War and embarrassing Bush agenda failures on Social Security, immigration, the John Bolton nomination and more.

Jsmagid at DailyKos has an intelligent, fascinating post today on what Democrats should be doing to not continue to be outsmarted by Bush/Rove spin. In a phrase...."Be proactive, not reactive."

I just hope that Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Howard Dean, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and the rest of our Democratic leaders read it, and get inspired to.....well, lead.