The Warrior King

Paul Krugman is a national treasure, one of the few redeeming lights in the generally sorry performance of the press. Writing his NYT column "The War President" from Vienna he opens with:

In this former imperial capital, every square seems to contain a giant statue of a Habsburg on horseback, posing as a conquering hero.

America's founders knew all too well how war appeals to the vanity of rulers and their thirst for glory. That's why they took care to deny presidents the kingly privilege of making war at their own discretion.
But after 9/11 President Bush, with obvious relish, declared himself a "war president."

Krugman doesn't talk about Congress, but it was clearly guilty of abdicating its constitutional duty to declare (or not declare) war.

His main point is that we can't afford not to figure out how we got into this mess:

Leading the nation wrongfully into war strikes at the heart of democracy. It would have been an unprecedented abuse of power even if the war hadn't turned into a military and moral quagmire. And we won't be able to get out of that quagmire until we face up to the reality of how we got in.

He looks at some of the evidence, and the sorry performance of the press is an important exhibit. He finds some consolation in the fact that the American people are starting to get fed up.

My fear is that al Quaeda will exploit Bush's incompetence and inattention to produce some new attack on American soil to bail him out.

I think this column should be a must read for anyone who cares about the country and prefers the truth to the slanders of Rove and Cheney.