Through A Glass Darkly

The juggernaut of the tailspin may have its curse fulfilled. As the twine starts coming loose and the patience becomes a harnessed ghost, reality becomes the sobering tool.

The polling information has George W. Bush at dismal 39%. Effectively, it is considered that only the truly dedicated are still waiting around. I find this fascinating because I believe popularity is the only thing this President cares about. I know I’m pooh poohing this a little but I found it a most tantalizing detail in the script against the Clinton Administrations that Bush considered it laughable to have any concern with polls. Underneath it all, with his rolled up sleeves and the Texas two-step, we have found the center of his universe.

I think Vice President Dick Cheney was malicious citing Valerie Plame’s identity as a source of retribution. I think Bush did it for brownie points. The landscape is such as this, Bush doesn’t get his hands dirty. He is great at self deprecation. His waddle is such of a person who is aware someone is watching him walk away; which is different from anyone coming into a fight. Imagine that strut on any boxing canvass; that blood sport allows for circus but not false bravado. I think he has been suckered into the war by listening to bumpkin logic that centers on old fashion romanticism. The old prison song of tough guys don’t dance is candle therapy for him.

Is it as much as because his father failed in Iraq? I don’t think that he did fail. I think that the no fly zones were a bad idea. I think that led to the conclusion that it was a strategic failure. Not to mention a costly experiment. Had we left Iraq to its own devices we may have been able to go back in without such a slaughter, without the threat of terrorism and redeemed a historic country. That would be the fairest assessment I can come up with concerning this. I believe something needed to be done; the gamble was too little too late and obviously cloudy judgment.

Bush Sr. lost the 1992 election for the same reason that Bush Jr. is in the same straights. His only selling point is because he seemed likable. He seemed like the good hearted fella that laughs at all the jokes, admires everything you do and has to ability to not mind being lead around if the appearance is that he is in control. Bush Sr. lost the ideological battle against common sense. He suggested a check box on the tax form if one wanted to reduce the deficit. Bush Jr. is in that same spectacle of wonderment. In the same sense as the Talking Heads line, “How did I get here”?

This is why Karl Rove is still in office, why Libby got a rave review, why Brownie considered himself a fashion-god because he can not say no. It is also why everyone who was critical of this Administration after they left probably had their picture in the urinal like they did to Senator Jeffords. That is a problem of its own, but worse, he doesn’t like anyone to tell him no. It refutes his power. It undefines his appearance of control. Karl Rove is a genius because he understands this about the President and about politics in general. For Bush being the CEO President, he is no Donald Trump. I don’t say this because of the considered thought of the Emperor Has No Clothes, because he does have a little bit of political sense. He wants to do things that are Republican in nature. He wants to do things religious in nature. He has those core beliefs. But this is a sucker’s game. He is finally between that rock and hard place that all friends must realize when they are in politics together. If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

I expect to see some kind of rebirth into the charity aspect of his communal instinct to arise. I think he will attempt to appear unselfish. In the end, Rove and Cheney will be an albatross. He will find this truth on some quiet night and the ghosts of those dead presidents will rattle their unrelenting song. He will strike out independently and finally get the courage to send the American people a note. It will be something along the lines of, do you like me? Do you really like me? Check yes or no.

Extra

And then there is this tidbit for all in the no new taxes crowd.