And now, a word from the President

Before I begin, the above picture from a press event where President Bush defended cataloguing every phone call made within the US on Thursday made me physically ill. Beyond their first names, the only other thing these two guys have in common is that neither of them served in Vietnam.

Now, I have written many posts on my overall distaste for the Bush administration, most notably here, here, and here. Over the years, however, I have found myself agreeing with the administration on many things. The Iraq war until they completely fucked everything up and torture are two examples. Actually, they are the only two examples. But my point is, the greatest problem I always had with the administration was a twofer; their arrogance and complete inability to admit when they are wrong as well as the disgusting techniques they used to question the patriotism of those who criticized them.

We all know the details of their latter strategy: "Do you hate America or just freedom in general?", Saxby Chambliss vs. Max Cleland, Bill Maher vs. ABC, George Bush vs. John Kerry, Dick Cheney vs. everybody. All of that is old hat; I'm not even surprised anymore when I hear some Republican Congressman from Georgia saying that a vote against repealing the estate tax "gives aid and comfort to our enemies."

And their first transgression has led us down the garden path and into the brambles that we find ourselves in today; in nearly every situation. Iraq, oil prices, interest rates, the environment -- you name it. But it is the President's arrogance that has finally sunk him; he is at 31% in the polls, with no solid support anywhere, despite a growing economy and incredibly low unemployment. Those numbers are amazing; voters almost always make decisions based on their pocketbook, and not withstanding an objectively booming economy (unrelated to the President) he is tanking. Why? Because bravado and cowboys hats cannot hide the truth forever.

Last week's enormous article in the Boston Globe is absolutely the shining example of Bush's mind numbing attitude. Beyond being the "Decider", he apparently wants to be the "Legislator", the "Adjudicator", the "Log Splitter", the "Dog Dropper", the "Pretzel Choker", and the "International Ally Alienator".

At the Democratic Convention in 2004, President Clinton said, "Strength and wisdom are not opposing values", which is just about the best summary of what was so wise about him and what is so foolish about the President Bush. We have failed in Iraq, and at least in the interim in the War on Terror because we have an administration which fails to see anything in terms other than black and white and good and evil, and refuses to ever change course.

This is beyond a political, strategic, military, or diplomatic problem. This a personal and psychological problem that the President has. Last year, he couldn't come up with one mistake that he made in the 5 years he had been in office. To me, that almost speaks more about his character than half of the decisions he has made while President. He is a faux cowboy, first and foremost. He is Connecticut bred thug, a Yale educated incompetent gangster, a rich elitist Texas tiger.

While listening to one of my favorite songs the other day, I couldn't help but listen to the final verse and think of our own (cough) Commander in Chief, who should have used the ballad as his campaign theme song:

To all you Republicans, that helped me win
I'd sincerely like to thank you
'Cause now I got the world swingin from my nuts
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta