George W. Bush is a fascinating, if terrifying, study in contradictions, a man who professes a strong belief in God, who has been responsible, to date, for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, including as many of our own armed forces as were killed by the “terrorists” on 9/11, not to mention mostly innocents.
He has VALUES, the first of which is his own persona and the legacy which he will leave for history. Most often when he comes to a podium to make a speech on a serious matter, he approaches with his little smirk and wink at someone in the audience, then launches into his speech in all seriousness, insisting that he will change his mind on nothing and that the rest of us just do not understand what is really going on.
If, on the other hand, his wisdom and agenda are questioned by the world, but especially by the many enemies he has made, the power available to him, and his personal ego and sense of his manliness as a world leader take over, and his VALUES become values on a much smaller scale. And that is what they have done. A little prevarication here and there becomes OK.
The plan to bring democracy to the Middle East, and presumably eventually the rest of the world, must go through. Although there has been very little mention of it, democratization undoubtedly is only the first step, to be followed by Christian conversion. Evangelists are already working there.
To keep his own record clean, Bush has taken no responsibility for the war in the Middle East, because according to him that was all caused by the terrorists and he is waging war (or considering it) in ever-increasing areas of the world to keep us safe at home. On the other hand, he is happy to take credit for the period during which we have not been attacked. It is hard to prove a negative, but nothing might have been planned during this time by the terrorists, which is hardly to his credit, considering the ports, airports, etc. which are still very vulnerable. (If we are attacked again, will he take the blame?)
To be on the safe side, he has deemed it wise to keep America and the world in a state of constant fear by saying that there will be future attacks, but we don’t know when or where. And he tops that off by saying that will be the responsibility of the presidentS who follow him (if, as I have said before, he doesn’t decide not to relinquish power when his term is up).
3 weeks ago
4 comments:
Wow, this is a very fascinating take on the very fascinating man! This brings it home; history is written continuously and it is not only found on yellowing pages of the books about eccentric kings and emporors in our collective past. I am convinced that this particular crusading emporor, with his court, will be one of the most memorable one ever.
It will interesting to see how he handles the news the day after the election if as expected the republicans lose at least one house of congress. His ego will definitely be smashed and he will have to blame someone. But who?
With the Woodward book and the Foley scandal reaching up to the Speaker his house of cards is really shaking.
Not sure I agree with all your points especially Evangelists following the carnage, but the point of trying to live in fear is well taken
I do hate President Bush, precisely because I feel what he has done to this country: lied to lead us into war, disregarded the Geneva Convention, tried to turn us into mutual informants, spied on us, scared us so that we would look the other way as he eviscerated the Constitution — these things are the measure of the man he is.
Bush is an irresponsible oligarch, ill-served by those around him, and he ill-serves us, for whom he is a public servant. In six years, he has caused such damage to our international reputation and our domestic democracy that it will take years to undo his legacy.
Hate Bush? You bet. But more than that, I want him impeached and tried for war crimes, and that is no pathological emotion. It is a position based coldly on Article VI of the Constitution, which makes treaties such as the Geneva Convention federal law.