Newsweek’s March 3 cover story is titled Bush and God. It’s an overview of President Bush’s religious and spiritual evolution.
I applaud the guy for talking about his presidency as his calling. There’s a need for more of that in our culture of achievement and consumption for personal satisfaction. And his acknowledgement of the role that his faith played in his dealing with his drinking problem is also admirable. A large percentage of American men see him as regular guy, and he’s modeling to them that it’s okay to get help to get your shit together.
But here’s the part about Bush’s faith that concerns me.
In recent weeks he has added a new note to his theme of the personal uses of faith, drawn from CBS (Community Bible Study). Now there is a sense of destiny that approaches the Calvinistic. “There is a fatalistic element,” said David Frum, the author and former Bush speechwriter. “You do your best and accept that everything is in God’s hands.” The result is unflappability. “If you are confident that there is a God that rules the world,” said Frum, “you do your best, and things will work out.” But what some see as solidity, others view as a flammable mix of stubbornness and arrogance. “No one’s allowed to second-guess, even when you should,” said another former staffer.
Bush’s making the mistake that since God saved him, if he now asks for help on political decisions, he’s going to get the right answer, that God makes things happen in the world in accordance with those in power who pray to do His will. Real Joe seems like my calling, my vocation, but its goofy to make the leap that God as the Wizard is now available to help me with business decisions. And I may have it completely wrong about the vocation part, too. Bush seems to be convinced that he’s done his best and that everything now is in God’s hands. I don’t know that this is worse than if Gore was president — his intellectual arrogance could’ve grown to the point of it precluding anyone from second-guessing him. But Bush’s faith is a bigger obstacle for those who might have the ability to influence him. Which could mean that if this war starts to go badly, it could go very bad for a lot longer than it needs to.