Bromell: Scooter's Tragic Innocence

[many a good man]

Why my friend Scooter Libby is loyal to Bush, Cheney and an arrogant administration whose values are not his own.

By Nick Bromell

For all these reasons, I want to insist that Scooter's respect for power is not just a front for cold self-interest. At bottom, there's a kind of innocence about Scooter. He has submitted to masters like Paul Wolfowitz and Cheney because he respects them, just as a Zen novitiate submits to a meditation master or a young violinist reveres the prodigious talent of her teacher. This attitude was zealously nurtured by the prep schools we attended, where conformity to power was called "leadership" and submission to the system understood as "success." And it is Scooter's celebration of this attitude -- not the sex scenes unfairly ridiculed by the New Yorker -- that makes his novel "The Apprentice" so interesting today. The book tells the story of a young man just like Scooter, a man with the humility to bow before a master warrior and undertake a life of apprenticeship to figures mightier than himself.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/01/24/scooter_libby/print.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. The Good Ger--uh, American.

Hail Victory, Hail Victory, Sieg Heil!

[many a good man]

2. "the nation that elected them"

more...

And yet, I would be a kind of innocent myself to conclude that the tragedy here is only Scooter's. His radical innocence, which his mentors so adroitly managed, also marks the Bush administration itself. Arrogantly dismissing the advice of seasoned Middle East experts, Bush has pursued a policy designed by men who never set foot in the region, never walked through a souk, never spoke a word of Arabic. Today, all these men, not just Scooter, have been carried out of their depth. Today, all of them are looking in the mirror every morning. What do they see?

Probably nothing that disturbs them, I'm afraid, since nothing about them would stand out in a crowd. Their bland features reveal only a characteristically American innocence, as typical as it is dangerous and powerful. This is why it's not just Scooter, nor just Bush and Cheney, but the nation that elected them that is symbolically on trial here this month.

[annabanana]

3. Dear God. . . .

Sorry, You can't rewrite this weasel as some kind of noble epic tragic figure...

He's not that big.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

4. Interesting article

Thanks for posting it. I missed it when it was first published.

[many a good man]

7. I hope you read this then

A masterfully written, thought provoking piece that is timely as well as timeless:
Scooter and Me

It's hard to imagine a pair of more unlikely life-long friends, given that Bromell is the author of this book:
Tomorrow Never Comes

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

8. Thanks!

Printed it out and will read.

[Beetwasher]

5. Ahh Yes, Scooter The Faithful Lackey

Or Henchman. Whatever.

[melody]

6. the nation that elected them???

As the results in the Ohio number crunch underscore, we didn't elect them -- twice.

Of all people, the American public is least to blame in Libby's slimy situation.