General Petraeus, the "New Jesus"

James Fallows is not necessarily a regular blogger although he now writes a blog-like column occasionally for The Atlantic Online. He writes excellent books and long articles on the defense industry, the press, foreign affairs, and technology. This posting makes a point that has been bugging me lately too -- the glorification of General Petraeus, the military figure who is going to save Iraq.

At his press conference last week, President Bush essentially answered every question about Iraq with the word "Petraeus." Actually, the word the President used was "David" -- before recovering himself and remembering to give his last name or say "General Petraeus." (Perhaps Bush realized that a president does no favor to an "independent" commander by portraying him in public as a buddy?) For instance, a reporter asked how long America should wait to see if the "surge" is working?

"How long does one wait? I will repeat, as the Commander-in-Chief of a great military who has supported this military and will continue to support this military, not only with my -- with insisting that we get resources to them, but with -- by respecting the command structure, I'm going to wait for David to come back -- David Petraeus to come back and give us the report on what he sees."

This phenomenon has been noted -- in particular by Thomas Ricks and Matthew Yglesias here and here -- but it is worth emphasizing how fundamental "New Jesus" thinking has become to the entire case for the Administration's strategy. In his appearance with Sen. Jim Webb this weekend on Meet the Press, Sen. Lindsay Graham sounded as if the all-knowing Petraeus could see past obstacles that blocked ordinary men:

"I will not vote for anything until generous—General Petraeus passes on it. No senator, no congressman—no matter how much I respect you—you’re not going to be able, in my opinion, to give the advice that General Petraeus can give, and I’m going to wait till he comes back and listen to his advice and not some politician."

And another point: how does Petraeus get to be the one reporting in September on his own progress? Do any of us get to fill out our own report cards? What a joke. Petraeus is headed for a big failure because he has been given, in effect, sole responsibility to solve an impossible problem. I'm seeing "fall guy" written all over him. I can visualize now the boy king expressing how disappointed he is with the poor results achieved by the general: "I gave him everything he asked for."