Bush and Blair

Nicholas D. Kristof, over at the New York Times, has an interesting comparison of President Bush and Prime Minister (for the moment at least) Blair.

"Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair took very similar positions over the last couple of years, and both exaggerated the Iraqi threat; and yet Mr. Blair is perhaps the leading statesman in the world today and Mr. Bush is regarded by much of the globe as a dimwitted cowboy. Or, as an Oxford don put it to me after perhaps too much sherry, "a buffoon."

The main reason is that the White House overdosed on moral clarity.

Mr. Bush always exudes a sense that the issues are crystal clear and that anyone who disagrees with him is playing political games. This fervor worked fine in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and in proper doses, moral clarity is admirable. But too much hobbles policy-making and insults our intelligence.

Mr. Blair stands with Mr. Bush on Iraq but acknowledges the complexity of the issues."

Mr. Kristof is correct, but too optimistic in my mind in his prognosis. He seems to believe that President Bush has it within him to acknowledge the complexity of the modern world, when most trends within his political philosophy are heading in precisely the opposite direction. Conservatism is more and more a black and white, us vs. them philosophy, and I don't expect President Bush to transcend that.