Olbermann: Bush's 'dangerous, even Messianic certitude' helped create 'a presidency of Cliff Notes'

One night after Bush's address to the nation, MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann blasted the president's "dangerous, even Messianic certitude."

"Only this President could extol the 'thoughtful recommendations of the Iraq Study Group,' and then take its most far-sighted recommendation — 'engage Syria and Iran' — and transform it into 'threaten Syria and Iran' — when Al-Qaeda would like nothing better than for us to threaten Syria, and when President Ahmmadinejad would like nothing better than to be threatened by us," Olberman said.

The MSNBC anchor added, "This is diplomacy by skimming; it is internationalism by drawing pictures of Superman in the margins of the text books; it is a presidency of Cliff Notes."

Excerpts from Olbermann's special comment:

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And lastly, as promised, a Special Comment about the President's address last night.

Only this President, only in this time, only with this dangerous, even Messianic certitude, could answer a country demanding an exit strategy from Iraq, by offering an entrance strategy for Iran.

Only this President, could look out over a vista of 3,008 dead and 22,834 wounded in Iraq, and finally say "where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me" — only to follow that, by proposing to repeat the identical mistake in Iran.

Only this President could extol the "thoughtful recommendations of the Iraq Study Group," and then take its most far-sighted recommendation — "engage Syria and Iran" — and transform it into "threaten Syria and Iran" — when Al-Qaeda would like nothing better than for us to threaten Syria, and when President Ahmmadinejad would like nothing better than to be threatened by us.

This is diplomacy by skimming; it is internationalism by drawing pictures of Superman in the margins of the text books; it is a presidency of Cliff Notes.

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Crooks and Liars has full transcript

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