Hitchens 360°
September 12th, 2005Just a small follow up on my last Christopher Hitchens post. Somehow I knew once I posted about him, I’d find it hard to stop. This interview on Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina is significant because it might be the start of his rhetorical ambandon ship, or as close to one as he’ll ever get.
But just to make sure that it’s really him speaking, he’s still using that looking-down-at-you elitist tone.
TONY JONES: Pitch ahead for us, if you can. What lasting effect do you think this will have on the Bush presidency?
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: Well, in terms of political psyche, shall we say, it’s good for the Democrats in about five different ways. One, it reminds people of the existence of the underclass, which tends to be downplayed, shall we say, by the Republican Party. Second it reminds people of the importance of government spending and government services, again, I think the same intuitive or subliminal point applies. Third it makes it at a populous level anyway harder to make a solid case for Iraq, though it doesn’t really alter the case about whether you think the war is a just or necessary one. And then fourthly, it reflects very badly on the personality of the President himself. So this is not, I think, a transient story. This is not something that is going to be confined to the Weather Channel, shall we say. I think it will be remembered as a hinge event in the second term.
TONY JONES: If it is a hinge event, is there any way he can use it to his advantage, as he ultimately did after a very shaky start immediately after September 11?
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: Well, no, I think people forgave him for blundering around on that day, and not quite knowing what to do and making what must have been one of the worst speeches ever given by any politician. That could, as it were, be forgiven because everyone felt I’m sure, my God, how would I have held up on a day like that? This is worse because, a) it could be seen coming and b), I might just add, by the way, I mean, these States that have been devastated, Louisiana and Mississippi and Somerset and Alabama, they’re all in the Republican column. The President is supposed to care about and nurturing the South, so is Karl Rove. What were they thinking? What were they thinking? I have no answer to that question that doesn’t come up with a revelation of the most, really, catastrophic incompetence and insouciance.