A Formal Intervention with a Dry Drunk President

[kpete]

Published on Saturday, December 30, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
A Formal Intervention with a Dry Drunk President
by Katherine van Wormer

..................."You've got to work at it." This is a commonly heard saying of George W. Bush. One thing he has not worked at, however, is what is sometimes called in alcoholism treatment parlance, "the second recovery." Treatment centers specialize in cognitive work, as does A.A., in effect, aiding persons in recovery to replace irrational, grandiose, and self-centered thoughts, with healthier and more moderate ways of thinking.

The kind of intervention that our president needed was a personal intervention, one aimed at the reasons that Bush fool heartedly and dishonestly (pushing for false intelligence assessments of the international situation) led the nation in a fantasy mission that was doomed to failure against "evildoers" in the Middle East. As I described as early as 2002 and as psychiatrist Justin Frank later, in Bush on the Couch, also concluded, to understand the motives behind the ill-fated invasion of Iraq, we have to consider Bush's role in his family, the unique psychological dynamics. As any Bush biography makes clear, the younger Bush was not only named for his father, but he was somehow destined to follow in his father's footsteps most of his life- at Andover, Yale, as a military pilot, in the oil business-only to fail at each juncture until he would enter politics and as commander- in-chief be able to stride triumphant in 2004 and declare "mission accomplished" on the carrier flight deck. Then he would have proven himself to his father and to the world.

In December, 2006, the elder Bush's tears shed at the tribute to his son, Governor Jeb Bush, told it all. "The true measure of a man is how you handle victory, and also defeat"-these were his exact words uttered at the moment that he got too choked up to continue. Though his loss of control was later claimed to be related to his younger son's (Jeb's), earlier defeat in a governor's race in 1994, it seems far more likely that his tears were shed over the disgraced presidency of his elder son and in recognition for the significance of this debacle for the entire Bush dynasty.

In the future, it will be left to psychologists and historians to ponder the real reason for George W. Bush's selection as members of his team, the very men like Cheney, Wolfowitz, Powell, and Rove, who, strikingly, had served under his father. Even Rumsfeld also had a historic relationship with Bush, Sr., albeit a problematic one. Above all, the challenge to psychologists and historians will be to ponder the real reason why the younger Bush was driven to an unnecessary and unbelievably costly war "mission impossible." The Iraq Study Group, which, interestingly, was headed by Bush Sr.'s former secretary of state, James Baker, was summoned in desperation to find a way out of a disastrous course, failed to tackle causality, which, in the final analysis is the most significant issue of all.




more at:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1230-21.htm

[Warpy]

1. I think the addiction to screwball rich mens' religion has worn off

although he's learned how to use it as a weapon, how to snow the leaders, and how to fake it. He rarely sets foot in a church, and although there has been a lot of copy written about how chock full the White House is with various bible studies and prayer meetings, he's never mentioned as attending them.

However, anyone who has ever lived with an alcoholic knows he was drunk at the G-8 last fall. The facial expressions and behavior were unmistakable.

Once he's out of office and off the short leash provided by his staff and security guard, I think we can expect to see him fade from public life as he continues his favorite avocation of oiling his brains.

I wouldn't wish that on any family.

[MasonJar]

2. James Baker and Jeb Bush set us on this course.

[texpatriot2004]

3. Intervention to the Gallows for this particular dry drunk nm

[Mike Nelson]

4. Dry?

I say he's All Wet.

[whistle]

5. Must impeach both Bush and Cheney, neither should be allowed to

...continue anywhere and any further in politics

[mdmc]

6. dry?

:SHRUG:

[grasswire]

7. why do people continue to buy the false narrative that...

...Poppy and his strong cohorts are working to shore up the weaker and incompetent W?

That is a false narrative, deployed to allow the Bushes and Bushies to continue their pillaging of the world's resources and emptying of the U.S. Treasury.

It has bought W. a little more time, as the media presented story after story about how the cooler heads and wiser older men would correct W's disastrous policies.

IT'S ALL A DOG AND PONY SHOW, people!! All a dog and pony show. A charade, a chimera.