Blumenthal: The Petulant President

[seafan]

(Apologies if this is already posted. But it is good enough to take that chance.)




Bush's America is gone with the wind. It lasted just short of four years, from 9/11 to 8/29. The devastation of New Orleans was the watery equivalent of a dirty bomb - but Hurricane Katrina approached with advance warnings, scientific anticipation and, before it struck, a personal briefing of the president by the director of the National Hurricane Centre, who warned of breached levees. No terrorist attack could be as completely foreseen as was Katrina.

Bush's presidency and re-election campaign was organised around one master idea: he stood as the protector and saviour of the American people under siege. On this he built his persona as a man of conviction and action. In the 2004 election a critical mass believed that, because of his unabashed patriotism and unembarrassed religiosity, he would do more to protect the country.

The deepest wound is not that he was incapable of defending the country but that he has shown he lacked the will to do so. In Bush's own evangelical language, he revealed his heart. The press disclosed a petulant, vacillating president they had not noticed before. Time magazine described a "rigid and top-down" White House where aides are petrified to deliver bad news to a "yelling" president. Newsweek reported that, two days after the hurricane, top aides, who "cringe" before Bush, met to decide which of them would be assigned the miserable task of telling him he would have to cut short his vacation.

--snip

It was easier for Bush to renounce alcohol at 40 than ideology at 60. Bush had radicalized Reagan's conservatism, but never has Reagan's credo rung so hollow: "Government is not the solution to our problem." Social Darwinism cannot protect the homeland. Many thousands, mostly poor black people, were trapped in the convention centre without food and water for days. Poverty has increased more than 9% since Bush assumed office. The disparity between the superpower's evangelical mission to democratise the world and indifference at home is a foreign policy crisis of new dimension. Can Iraq be saved if Louisiana is lost? Bush's credibility gap is a geopolitical problem without a geopolitical solution.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0916-26.htm

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Great article. Thanks for posting.

[WhiteTara]

2. I don't want to believe that he will skate

for the next 3 1/2 years! I was heartened to read earlier that 41 congresscritters asked Fitzgerald to expand his investigation to see if * lied to congress! Now that is clearly an impeachable offense.

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8289
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x157513
"The criminal statute, 18 U.S.C., Sec. 1001, prohibits knowingly and willfully making false and fraudulent statements to Congress in documents required by law. The two uranium claims in the State of the Union Address and the report to Congress concerning Iraq were false and fraudulent, and are in documents that the White House submitted to Congress. See House Document 108-1 and House Document 108-23. The law required the president to give such reports. Article II, Section 3 of the constitution requires presidents to give State of the Union Addresses. Section 4 of Public Law 107-243, which is the Congressional resolution authorizing the war against Iraq, requires the president to give reports to Congress relevant to the war resolution and the president submitted said report on Iraq pursuant to that law. Thus 18 U.S.C., Sec. 1001 was evidently violated."

That has given me some hope
IMPEACH BUSH AND SEND HIM TO THEM ALL TO THE HAGUE!

[cliss]

3. Great article.

This article seems to reflect the polls, which showed that every time Bush appeared in the south, his ratings went down.

He didn't even get a bounce from his 'national address' last Thursday.

Bush is finished. Thanks for the article.

[uncertainty1999]

4. wow - I have always associated 'PETULANT' with Bush...

It is the FIRST word that comes to mind when I think of that guy

[ladylibertee]

5. Thank You for posting.I have not seen it anywhere else.Thanks