If Bush Were Prodi

If Bush Were Prodi

Italian Prime Minister resigned yesterday after his center-left coalition government lost a crucial foreign policy vote in the Senate.

Maybe George W. Bush should do the same. After all, the House of Representatives is now on record opposing his plan to escalate the war in Iraq, as is a majority of the US Senate. In Italy, that would certainly be grounds for dismissal. If Bush were Prodi, he’d be resigning every day. I nominate Chuck Hagel as his replacement.

Prodi came only two votes short of passing a measure that would keep Italian troops in Afghanistan and allow the US to expand a military base in northern Italy. The vote offers further confirmation of just how unpopular US foreign policy has become. Iraq is not the only place where the coalition of the willing has chosen to cut and run.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

Italian Prime Minister resigned yesterday after his center-left coalition government lost a crucial foreign policy vote in the Senate.

Maybe George W. Bush should do the same. After all, the House of Representatives is now on record opposing his plan to escalate the war in Iraq, as is a majority of the US Senate. In Italy, that would certainly be grounds for dismissal. If Bush were Prodi, he’d be resigning every day. I nominate Chuck Hagel as his replacement.

Prodi came only two votes short of passing a measure that would keep Italian troops in Afghanistan and allow the US to expand a military base in northern Italy. The vote offers further confirmation of just how unpopular US foreign policy has become. Iraq is not the only place where the coalition of the willing has chosen to cut and run.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x