Government
After 5 years with this Bush administration, I've been starting to think about how I would characterize it in the history books. Early on, I would have been one to hold the view that, sure, Bush is dumb (or at least dumb-sounding) but he puts smart people around himself and he listens to them. When the Iraq war started, I still kind of held that view, likening the Iraq situation a little over-exuberance on the part of the Bush administration (revenge for Daddy). When it came out that there were no WMDs, I definitely thought there was some "irrational exuberance" (to take a phrase from the venerable Alan Greenspan) going on, along with some mistakes made by poor leadership.
The whole vacation thing has pissed me off, too. The president should not be allowed to vacation, and definitely not during a war or during a national crisis like Hurricane Katrina. The lack of compassion and concern in Bush's response has led me to believe that this administration is one the history books will call idealistic and naive. Highly principled, short-sighted (and dangerously so, as we have seen), and quick to retaliate against its enemies, Bush and his administration need to grow up.
What happens when someone speaks out against the administration or something Bush and his cronies are doing? They get punished, as we have seen with Cindy Sheehan, Valerie Plame and her husband, the Justice Department guy who attempted to call more attention to rises in racial profiling of Latinos and African-Americans, the list goes on, even as you go further back before Bush became President. How childish. Bush is like the class bully, where you know that if you tell on him, he'll come to getcha.
And Iraq? Bush is like a stubborn little boy, who won't admit he's wrong and "stays the course" at the peril of other American lives. Remember the debate between Kerry and Bush, where a woman asked Bush to talk about mistakes he's made in his first term? Remember how Bush couldn't give a straight answer? Now I realize, that maybe that's because he doesn't think he's made any mistakes.
How about the disasters that have occurred on Bush's watch? One word: Unprepared. It's true that planning and organization are higher-order functions of the brain, so naturally, this administration sucks at them. 9/11 might have been avoided or foiled before disaster struck, if, perhaps, Bush had paid more attention to the reports about the safety and security of America. Of course, safety and security are issues that we shouldn't expect from someone as immature as Bush; he's only a child. For those of you who've seen Fahrenheit 911, do you remember Bush's dumbstruck expression upon hearing the news about the World Trade Center? I'll give him credit for the months after 9/11, as he provided leadership to coordinate the outpouring of aid and the reconstruction of New York. It still didn't stop him from using the opportunity to manipulate the world towards his own agenda, however. And Hurricane Katrina? I find it easier to imagine the Bush administration as a 4-year old child who has just heard the news about the disaster. He hears the news but can't comprehend what it means, and how to help.
Too bad there isn't a Supernanny for Presidents. Maybe we should be thinking more about child psychology when dealing with this administration.
The whole vacation thing has pissed me off, too. The president should not be allowed to vacation, and definitely not during a war or during a national crisis like Hurricane Katrina. The lack of compassion and concern in Bush's response has led me to believe that this administration is one the history books will call idealistic and naive. Highly principled, short-sighted (and dangerously so, as we have seen), and quick to retaliate against its enemies, Bush and his administration need to grow up.
What happens when someone speaks out against the administration or something Bush and his cronies are doing? They get punished, as we have seen with Cindy Sheehan, Valerie Plame and her husband, the Justice Department guy who attempted to call more attention to rises in racial profiling of Latinos and African-Americans, the list goes on, even as you go further back before Bush became President. How childish. Bush is like the class bully, where you know that if you tell on him, he'll come to getcha.
And Iraq? Bush is like a stubborn little boy, who won't admit he's wrong and "stays the course" at the peril of other American lives. Remember the debate between Kerry and Bush, where a woman asked Bush to talk about mistakes he's made in his first term? Remember how Bush couldn't give a straight answer? Now I realize, that maybe that's because he doesn't think he's made any mistakes.
How about the disasters that have occurred on Bush's watch? One word: Unprepared. It's true that planning and organization are higher-order functions of the brain, so naturally, this administration sucks at them. 9/11 might have been avoided or foiled before disaster struck, if, perhaps, Bush had paid more attention to the reports about the safety and security of America. Of course, safety and security are issues that we shouldn't expect from someone as immature as Bush; he's only a child. For those of you who've seen Fahrenheit 911, do you remember Bush's dumbstruck expression upon hearing the news about the World Trade Center? I'll give him credit for the months after 9/11, as he provided leadership to coordinate the outpouring of aid and the reconstruction of New York. It still didn't stop him from using the opportunity to manipulate the world towards his own agenda, however. And Hurricane Katrina? I find it easier to imagine the Bush administration as a 4-year old child who has just heard the news about the disaster. He hears the news but can't comprehend what it means, and how to help.
Too bad there isn't a Supernanny for Presidents. Maybe we should be thinking more about child psychology when dealing with this administration.
posted by Menzies at 12:35 AM
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