Smells Like Dead Elephants: Dispatches from a Rotting Empire

Matt Taibbi – 2007

This is a collection of pieces by Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi depicting the State of the Union circa 2006, five years into the administration of George W. Bush.  Taibbi seems to have little interest in Bush himself but a keen concern for the havoc that was wrought in his name.  It has little to do with ideology, in his view, but everything to do with corruption, provincialism and belligerent small-mindedness.  Taibbi managed to traverse the world to get himself into the heart of seemingly all the major stories of the day; from the Abu Graib scandal to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Through all the disparate subjects, one overarching theme is evident; the pathetic (and sometimes fatal) disconnect between professed American ideals and the real world.  The unprecedented arrogance and vindictiveness of the Republican-controlled Congress in these years is something Taibbi returns to regularly throughout the book; particularly its naked willingness to hand over virtually dictatorial powers to the White House and abdicating its Constitutional duty to check and balance the Executive Branch.  Under the iron-fisted control of Tom DeLay, the House of Representatives cleared the path for one disaster after another, including the crimes of mega-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and of course the Iraq war, which – as Taibbi says – is the ultimate example of Americans failing to comprehend – and failing to have any desire to comprehend – any other points of view, cultures or ways of life.  Meanwhile, the impotent Democrats seem incapable of playing any role other than dazed and hapless bystanders, easily bullied into supporting the war and meanwhile neutering their own supposedly Leftist principles in the hopes of winning more elections.  Joe Lieberman is singled out as the prime example of the tired hack repeatedly promoted by Party leaders as the type who stands a chance against the Republicans due to being much more conservative than liberal.  The incompetent response to Katrina, the worst natural disaster in American history, and the speed with which the cataclysm was forgotten by the media, demonstrated the peculiar eagerness we have as a country to dismiss anything that doesn’t paint us as masters of our world.  The centerpiece of the book is a long section chronicling Taibbi’s embed with troops in Iraq, who spend their days in isolated bases where all the comforts of home are recreated, waiting to be sent out on vague missions in tanks that have been retrofit with guns so heavy they make the vehicles unsafe.  In Washington, decisions that send teenagers to their deaths are based on only two things; insufficient information and money.  The stories become deadening after a while; infuriating for sure and often downright disheartening.  If the American people fail to exercise their democratic rights and take control of their own government, Taibbi concludes, they can only hope to continue keeping their heads in the sand, comforting themselves with TV and food, and hoping the real world never arrives at their doorstep.