Next week's Newsweek magazine (available online) sinks to new lows in tabloid journalism in its 'exclusive' and 'behind the scenes' look at how Bush "
handled the middle east crisis" on his recent trip to the G8 summit in Russia. Those last words are actually the title of the article. Bush handles middle east crisis!! Are you kidding me? What the hell did Bush do at the G8 summit that Newsweek thinks equates to 'handling' a crisis? Richard Wolffe does his best to portray Bush's trip as a humorous West Wing episode, a puff piece in the worst way, that lacks the basic critical assessment that is inherent in any piece of respectable journalism.
With a circulation of 3.1 million, Newsweek is one of the most highly read news magazines in the U.S. All the more reason to be outraged (and/or frightened) by this week's cover story. One can sense the type of article to come from the very first lines.
The forward suite aboard Air Force One is a hushed and dimly lit space, a private sanctuary where the president can sleep, exercise and lead the free world from 30,000 feet. At the start of an eight-hour flight en route to Germany and a world summit in Russia, President Bush is deep inside his own head as he paces up and down the long hallway that leads from his study to his conference room. While Washington was sleeping the night before, yet another corner of the Middle East had erupted into violence, after Hizbullah launched a deadly ambush on an Israeli patrol. The summit, which was supposed to focus on Iran's nukes and Russia's democracy, had just been hijacked by the war on terror. (emphasis mine)
So here we have Bush. Leader of the free world. Restlessly pacing his cabin "deep inside his own head", because we all know how deep of thinker this president is. The most egregious subtlety at work here is Newsweek buying into the GOP/Gingrich talking point that the current Israeli-Lebanon conflict is part of the United States "War on Terror"/WWIII. It should be clear to us by now that Rove and his minions see oppourtunity to exploit the current conflict for political gain. From the Wall Street Journal online here's Darth Cheney himself:
Vice President Cheney pointed to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as fresh evidence of the ongoing battle against terrorism that underscores the need to keep President Bush's Republican allies in control of Congress. "This conflict is a long way from over," Cheney said at a fundraising appearance for a GOP congressional candidate. "It's going to be a battle that will last for a very long time. It is absolutely essential that we stay the course."
After continuing on with humorous side banter between Bush, Rice, Putin (otherwise known as Pootie-poo, although I doubt Bush calls him that to his face)and other G8 leaders, Wolffe finally gets to something interesting during the final days of the summit.
That afternoon the leaders are promised they will see the final text of their statement on the Middle East, which calls on Hizbullah to end its rocket attacks and then urges Israel to end its military strikes. But the document fails to arrive at the promised hour of 4, and it's still not there at 5 o'clock. Bush has had it. "I'm going home," he says to the room full of presidents and prime ministers. "I'm going to get a shower. I'm just about meeting'd out." Some of the leaders suggest they should all work out their differences together. But Bush can no longer keep up appearances.
It's hard work Mr. President. Hard work indeed.
Seeming to almost veer into a real story at this point, Wolffe returns to his aggrandizment of Bush to end his piece.
Bush is in a philosophical mood, pleased with the summit and his handling of the crisis. There has been some progress on trade, solid agreement on North Korea and Iran, and a strong statement on the Middle East.
Special props to anyone who can tell me what 'solid agreement on North Korea and Iran' came out of this conference. Nothing that I've read recently indicates as such. To the contrary, the west is now distracted by the Israeli-Hezbollah war and the war in Iraq to take any effective action on Iran. The G8's supposedly 'strong' statement on the middle east has done nothing to paper over the real differences between the Bush administration (let Israel bomb Hezzbollah and Lebanon into the dirt) and Europe (mediate a cease-fire before the crisis escalates) when it comes to the conflict.
Wolffe seems to fall victim to the 'embedded reporter syndrome' so common during initial phase of the war in Iraq. Reporters become so close to thier story that they lose objectivity and end up glorifying thier topics.