I don’t always agree with Tom Friedman (of the NY Times) but he does write well. War and Piece pointed out the new Friedman column in which he summarizes my reasons for not trusting the Bush administration with the war in Iraq.

Being away has not changed my belief one iota in the importance of producing a decent outcome in Iraq, to help move the Arab-Muslim world off its steady slide toward increased authoritarianism, unemployment, overpopulation, suicidal terrorism and religious obscurantism. But my time off has clarified for me, even more, that this Bush team can’t get us there, and may have so messed things up that no one can. Why? Because each time the Bush team had to choose between doing the right thing in the war on terrorism or siding with its political base and ideology, it chose its base and ideology. More troops or radically lower taxes? Lower taxes. Fire an evangelical Christian U.S. general who smears Islam in a speech while wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army or not fire him so as not to anger the Christian right? Don’t fire him. Apologize to the U.N. for not finding the W.M.D., and then make the case for why our allies should still join us in Iraq to establish a decent government there? Don’t apologize - for anything - because Karl Rove says the “base” won’t like it. Impose a “Patriot Tax” of 50 cents a gallon on gasoline to help pay for the war, shrink the deficit and reduce the amount of oil we consume so we send less money to Saudi Arabia? Never. Just tell Americans to go on guzzling. Fire the secretary of defense for the abuses at Abu Ghraib, to show the world how seriously we take this outrage - or do nothing? Do nothing. Firing Mr. Rumsfeld might upset conservatives. Listen to the C.I.A.? Only when it can confirm your ideology. When it disagrees - impugn it or ignore it.

What I resent so much is that some of us actually put our personal politics aside in thinking about this war and about why it is so important to produce a different Iraq. This administration never did. Mr. Kerry’s own views on Iraq have been intensely political and for a long time not well thought through. But Mr. Kerry is a politician running for office. Mr. Bush is president, charged with protecting the national interest, and yet from the beginning he has run Iraq policy as an extension of his political campaign.

In the past, times of war have been times of sacrifice. Not for this leadership. After 9/11, millions of Americans were willing to do anything to help defend this country. We were asked to go shopping. This is a President who’s vaunted moral leadership asks us to sacrifice nothing and to blame no one. There is no wrong that America can do simply because we are America. We are invincible and morally superior to all other countries in the world simply because we say so. No follow through or action is required to actually live that moral life, just saying we do is sufficient.

That’s not the kind of leadership that gets to claim any sort of moral superiority in my book. They are liars and partisan politicians at their core, not caring one iota about what is good for America’s long-term health and security.

There’s always a chicken and egg question when it comes to asking how they’ve been able to get away with this. Al Franken wrote in his book that liberals love American like a family member. We love them unconditionally but see the flaws and see the good. Nagging the slacker brother to get a job or the successful sister to dump the loser boyfriend isn’t the same as not loving them. Yet in this country, politics has descended to a place where any criticisms of our policies at home or abroad is tantamount to “hating” America or wanting us to fail.

Part of me believes that this climate predates 9/11 and the Bush administration. I do believe that a large portion of this country simply believes that America is infallible because their history textbooks in high school told them so. They seem unwilling or unable to face up to a history that includes a number of less-than-admirable incidents, from giving smallpox-laden blankets to Native American towns to supporting violent and murderous dictators like Saddam Hussein and General Pinochet. Even loved ones make mistakes. The simple strength of America, like most other democratic societies, is that we’re able to learn from our mistakes whenever the people want us to.

The president has take this existing attitude and made it worse by encouraging it. As a result, we’ve lost the historic opportunity that 9/11 gave us. As a nation, we were ready to sacrifice. As a world, we were ready to stand by the United States and combat the roots of terrorism. The president could’ve talked to Americans about different ways to combat the appeal of radical Islam. Instead, we got, well, nothing… just the language of “bring it on” and “dead or alive.” And in that time America has lost so much. We’ve lost soldiers, we’ve lost prestige, and we’ve lost credibility. As Kerry said during the debates:

Here we have our own secretary of state who has had to apologize to the world for the presentation he made to the United Nations.

I mean, we can remember when President Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis sent his secretary of state to Paris to meet with DeGaulle. And in the middle of the discussion, to tell them about the missiles in Cuba, he said, “Here, let me show you the photos.” And DeGaulle waved them off and said, “No, no, no, no. The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me.”

How many leaders in the world today would respond to us, as a result of what we’ve done, in that way?

The answer is zero.