Current Events: The Tragic Comedy of W

In lieu of a full-fledged explanation of the concept, suffice it to say the dramatic ideas of comedy and tragedy are interrelated. The relationship between the two has been highlighted to an extreme degree of irony by the current administration in that many of its phrases have already become jokes, but at a tragic cost of lives, resources and the morale of the nation. In particular, in the near future, if not already, the following phrases will come to have a loaded, prejudicial (in the legal sense), meaning in the American political lexicon:

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(1) "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job!" (alternate spelling: "yer doin' a heckuva job!").

W's famous phrase in support of then-FEMA Director Michael Brown in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Clearly, Brownie was not doing a very good job (at best), so if you hear this already-ironic phrase in the future you will have a pretty good idea of its backgroud. I can already envison the disparaging phrase that (fill in name) has as much business doing their current job (whatever it may be) as Brownie did running FEMA.

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(2) "This is hard work"

W's response during a 2004 presidential debate to a question regarding whether the toll and cost of Gulf War II had been worth it (if I remember correctly). It may have been the first debate, which was probably Kerry's high point of the campaign (it was a crush, in debate parlance). W's insight that being president is hard work was totally non-responsive to the question and presented no argument in his favor (so it's hard work--that does not explain why you should be the one doing it).

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(3) "Slam Dunk"

Then-CIA Director Tenet's phrase regarding the intelligence which indicated that Iraq allegedly had WMD prior to Gulf War II. Obviously, no WMD have been found in Iraq to date (though they may have been moved to Syria). This phrase now has the opposite of its literal meaning; a slam dunk has become an air ball.

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(4) "Mission Accomplished"

W's May 2003 landing on an aircraft carrier, decked in a flight suit, heralded the end of major combat operations in Iraq. Already the most infamous moment of twisted irony thus far this century. Even granting a wide range of options as to what an "accomplished" mission in Iraq would actually entail (other than the blunt removal of the previous regime by military force), I don't think we've come anywhere close to its achievement.

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Finally, I recently read a telling, if not damning, analogy between Gulf War II and the current administration. Remember the Iraqi Information Minister's less-than-credible proclamations in 2003 relating to the progress of the war? Listening to the current administration now is like listening to him then.