"While there are significant long-term risks associated with such
contractual arrangements, the well-informed actor, motivated by some
historically recognized intangibilities - maximization of regalement, binary
association, et al. - finds that those outweigh the downside risks. To wit,
would you - exigencies and externalities permitting - enter into a
matrimonial association of indefinite duration with me?"
That's not a direct quote, of course, just my speculation. But on Sunday's
"60 Minutes" profile of Alan Greenspan, we learned that the former Fed
chairman dated NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell for 13 years before asking her
to marry him. "He used Fed-speak," Mitchell recalled. "Who knew he was
proposing? I couldn't figure it out."
Greenspan observers were similarly befuddled by a seemingly plain-spoken
statement in his memoir, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World."
Greenspan wrote that the Iraq war is "largely about oil," according to an
excerpt in the Washington Post on Saturday. The statement quickly raced
around the globe, with headlines like this one from Britain's Daily
Telegraph: "Iraq was about oil - Greenspan attacks U.S. motivation for war."
The Independent began its own editorial by declaring: "The credibility of
President George Bush's policy on Iraq has suffered another devastating
blow. It is all the more powerful for having come not from a political enemy
but from someone who was showered with plaudits by the administration."
The quoted phrase ran through the Sunday news shows and the blogosphere like
a bad intestinal virus. On CNN's "Late Edition," Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.)
was asked if he agreed with Greenspan. "To a very large extent I agree with
him, and I think it is very remarkable that it took Alan Greenspan all these
many years and being out of office (to state) the obvious."
Well, that is very interesting. But first we should clear the air about
something. Greenspan claims that the quote was taken out of context.
Greenspan told the Post - Bob Woodward, no less - that, in fact, he didn't
think the White House was motivated by oil. Rather, he was. A Post story
Monday explained that Greenspan had long favored Saddam Hussein's ouster
because the Iraqi dictator was a threat to the Strait of Hormuz, through
which much of the world's oil passes every day. Hussein could have sent the
price of oil way past $100 a barrel, which would have inflicted chaos on the
global economy.
In other words, Greenspan favored the war on the grounds that it would
stabilize the flow of oil, even though that wasn't the war's political
underpinning. "I was not saying that that's the administration's motive,"
Greenspan told Woodward, "I'm just saying that if somebody asked me, ŒAre we
fortunate in taking out Saddam?' I would say it was essential."
So let's get back to Lantos, who agreed with the misconstrued Greenspan that
it was "obvious" we went to war for oil. What's funny - though not really
ha-ha funny - is that Lantos voted for the war. If it was so obviously a war
for oil, why did he vote for it? Unless, of course, he thinks it's
hunky-dory to go to war because of oil - though that didn't sound like what
he was trying to say.
As several politicians and officials noted over the weekend, no White House
briefer ever told Congress that this was a war for oil. The debates in
Congress didn't say this was a war for oil. Bush never gave a single speech
saying this was a war for oil. (If oil was all Bush wanted, he hardly needed
to go to war to get it.) So why is it "obvious" to Lantos that it was a war
for oil?
Perhaps the answer is that when it comes to bashing Bush about the war, no
accusation is inaccurate - even if it contradicts all the accusations that
came before. Some say it's all about the Israel lobby. Others claim that
Bush was trying to avenge his dad. Still others say Bush went to war because
God told him to.
Which is it? All of those? Any? It doesn't seem to matter. It's disturbing
how many people are willing to look for motives beyond the ones debated and
voted on by our elected leaders.
The last time Greenspan made a gaffe of sorts, his comment about Wall
Street's "irrational exuberance" sent worldwide markets into a tizzy. This
latest gaffe is more ironic because it was so plain-spoken, but it also
managed to call attention to a case of irrational exuberance - among
Bush-bashing war opponents.