The Longest Farewell
Is it just me, or is President Bush taking an extraordinarily long time to say good-bye? Now, while I might have preferred his simply slinking our of town, his ten gallon hat pulled low over his eyes, I do understand that the man is entitled to wrap things up his own way. At least he hasn't started another war just to show that he could, although there are still a few days left in his term for him to do so.
Still, the past few weeks of self-serving interviews and farewell speeches is beginning to wear on my last nerve. Either the man hasn't a clue as to what he's done to this country and the world, or he simply doesn't care because he believes he's entitled to do whatever he pleases. That's maddening enough, but adding in his facial tics and inappropriate smirks and chuckles just sends me around the bend.
Here's what it is: President Bush has become tiresome. That wouldn't be so bad, but because he has proven himself to be incompetent, lazy, venal, and prone to lying, the package is just too painful for me to be around any longer. I obviously am not the only one who feels that way, and I do take comfort in the fact that my human radar is still working, but I wish he would just leave. Now.
During my weekly visit to Watching America, I found that people all around the world are watching the spectacle of President Bush's farewell lap. I get the impression that they feel pretty much the same way I do. One op-ed piece in particular, published in Norway's Dagsavisen, noted Mr. Bush's complete obliviousness, and did so with disdain that was palpable. Here's a taste:
At his last press conference, Bush was asked about mistakes he has made. Bush mentioned that it was a PR-mistake to speak in front of the “Mission Accomplished” banner one month after the war in Iraq started. But he bluntly rejected the idea that the invasion was a mistake. The fact that weapons of mass destruction were not found, the reason for going to war in the first place, he called a disappointment. The mistreatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib was also just a disappointment. "I do not know if these can be called mistakes, let me say that it didn't go according to plan," Bush said.
The relationship with America's European allies has not been going according to plan either. Here Bush can not hide his bitterness, especially towards the countries who would not support his war on Iraq. "In certain parts of Europe you can become popular by blaming every Middle Eastern problem on Israel," Bush said. "I assume I could've been popular by ratifying the Kyoto treaty as well. It's easy to be popular in Europe, but I preferred to do it right!"
If it weren't for the fact that I know, and the columnist obviously knows, that Bush will be gone in a matter of days, I would have been once again humiliated and horrified by the man who was my ostensible national leader, the smarmy, smug bastard at his finest. But he is leaving, at least by all signals to date, so at this point, one can only utter the ancient prayer for the departing:
"Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out."
Still, the past few weeks of self-serving interviews and farewell speeches is beginning to wear on my last nerve. Either the man hasn't a clue as to what he's done to this country and the world, or he simply doesn't care because he believes he's entitled to do whatever he pleases. That's maddening enough, but adding in his facial tics and inappropriate smirks and chuckles just sends me around the bend.
Here's what it is: President Bush has become tiresome. That wouldn't be so bad, but because he has proven himself to be incompetent, lazy, venal, and prone to lying, the package is just too painful for me to be around any longer. I obviously am not the only one who feels that way, and I do take comfort in the fact that my human radar is still working, but I wish he would just leave. Now.
During my weekly visit to Watching America, I found that people all around the world are watching the spectacle of President Bush's farewell lap. I get the impression that they feel pretty much the same way I do. One op-ed piece in particular, published in Norway's Dagsavisen, noted Mr. Bush's complete obliviousness, and did so with disdain that was palpable. Here's a taste:
At his last press conference, Bush was asked about mistakes he has made. Bush mentioned that it was a PR-mistake to speak in front of the “Mission Accomplished” banner one month after the war in Iraq started. But he bluntly rejected the idea that the invasion was a mistake. The fact that weapons of mass destruction were not found, the reason for going to war in the first place, he called a disappointment. The mistreatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib was also just a disappointment. "I do not know if these can be called mistakes, let me say that it didn't go according to plan," Bush said.
The relationship with America's European allies has not been going according to plan either. Here Bush can not hide his bitterness, especially towards the countries who would not support his war on Iraq. "In certain parts of Europe you can become popular by blaming every Middle Eastern problem on Israel," Bush said. "I assume I could've been popular by ratifying the Kyoto treaty as well. It's easy to be popular in Europe, but I preferred to do it right!"
If it weren't for the fact that I know, and the columnist obviously knows, that Bush will be gone in a matter of days, I would have been once again humiliated and horrified by the man who was my ostensible national leader, the smarmy, smug bastard at his finest. But he is leaving, at least by all signals to date, so at this point, one can only utter the ancient prayer for the departing:
"Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out."
Labels: Bush Legacy
posted by Diane at 3:00 PM
6 Comments:
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Dubya will never be gone. He's leaving behind plenty of Bushco agents in the "new" Administration, along with policies Obama ran against, but now seems willing to continue. Dubya, or the people he actually represents, still has sycophants in Congress on both sides of the aisle who will spend eternity defending him and upholding his policies.
Then there's the Dubya "style." Deny it as they might, millions of yahoos and Yalies went for it. Let Obama stumble, and he will, and his "arrogance and elitism" will be unfavorably compared to Dubya's faux-folksiness, ad nauseum.
The tame corporate media will not be leaving town with Dubya. As we've seen with the Blago mess, the talking heads will be yammering full-time at any faint chance of bringing Obama down, corporatist though he seems to be leaning now. You can never be far Right enough for them.
And the world really will never be the same since 9/11. Our image and the reality of post-Bush America are changed forever. No one who has been conscious for the last eight years can ever call the U.S. an honest broker, a standard-bearer for human rights and the rule of law, a truly democratic nation not interested in hegemony, a peacemaker. Dubya has stained our sacred honor forever.
Dubya is still a relatively young and healthy man. He is a hero to the delusional and the deranged, jingoists and thugs, speculators and thieves everywhere. His willingness to serve as a mere corporate shill all his life will guarantee him a place never offered to any previous President. None of them would have gone after it as shamelessly as Dubya will.
I look for him to become the first full-time talking head among ex-Presidents, a long-term spokesmodel for corporate Fascism to be seen regularly in all media. His rehabilitation has already been put in motion. With Obama willingly mired in Afghanistan, and Iraq in chaos behind him, Dubya and his surrogates will be the go-to guys for I-told-you-so's. Dubya & Co. will doubtless be called upon for their critique of Obama's handling of the new "Democrat Depression," also. Only prolonged bouts with drugs & alcohol will keep Dubya off the boob-tube. Wait for it.
And let's not forget the rest of his execrable, lower-upper-class family. Senator Jeb? Governor Jenna? President Bush 3? Nope, Dubya will never be gone. He's all around in the dark, everywhere, wherever you look, wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, like the spirit of goons and thugs everywhere, smashing hard-working, honest people into the ground. His new, more brutal America is here to stay. And so is Dubya.
Unless, of course we pound on him mercilessly until the day he is finally composted. Unless unfree people everywhere take off their shoes and throw them at his face, whenever Dubya dares to show it. Unless we make his name as foul as a Nixon's and worse, a Hitler's. Work to be done, work to be done.
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Start another war? He did not even start one. Afghanistan attacked us first on 9-11, and there was a state of ongoing war with Iraq (Iraq funding and promoting terrorism, firing on peacekeepers, etc) before Bush got in office.
Anyone who has been conscious for he last eight years can confidently call the U.S. an honest broker, a standard-bearer for human rights and the rule of law, a truly democratic nation not interested in hegemony, a peacemaker.
He did the correct thing so many times when his opponents wanted him to do the wrong thing.
I call bullshit on Anon's comments. Afghanistan did not attack the US, elements of an terrorist group hiding out there did.
No credible evidence, none, zero, nada, has ever been provided by ANYONE linking Iraq to al Qaeda. Even Bush admits that finding no wmds in Iraq, the stated reason for attacking them, was "a disappointment."
You're on the wrong blog. The Bush Historical Revisionism Society is down the hall, to the far right, and off the cliff.
Moron.
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WASHINGTON POST 1/18/09
"Bush's Post-Presidency to Include More Than a Library"
' *After handing over the White House to President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday, Bush, 62, will return to Texas to begin his own post-presidency, including plans to build a library, museum and public-policy center in Dallas, that is far more ambitious than those of most other former commanders in chief. ...
*But the project has prompted skepticism among many academics, who argue that Bush appears set on using the center to rewrite his legacy as a president who led the nation into an unpopular war and an economic crisis. Many SMU faculty members and students also oppose the project, arguing that it would not conduct the kind of unbiased research a university should encourage. ...
*"It's really a place where you're trying to advance effective policy solutions above a partisan level," Langdale said. "He's made clear that history will be a judge of his legacy. The purpose of the institute is to be more forward-looking." ...
*Bush has already invited many of his closest foreign friends to participate once the center is up and running, including former British prime minister Tony Blair, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. First lady Laura Bush, who has already inked a deal with publishing house Scribner to write a memoir, will also play a pivotal role in the center, focusing on women's rights, literacy and other issues that occupied her attention in the White House, she and others have said. ... '
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Afghanistan did indeed attack the US on 9/11. The terrorist group working there, did so with the full cooperation and encouragement of the Afghanistan government.
"No credible evidence, none, zero, nada, has ever been provided by ANYONE linking Iraq to al Qaeda"
Much proof is provided, from many sources. It is revisionism to deny the positive ties and meetings between Saddam Hussein and Al Queda. However, there is no link between Saddam and 9/11. But Bush never claimed there was.
Al Queda was just one of the many terrorist groups Saddam Hussein supported, hosted, and funded. Our new Secretary of State recognized the necessity of retaliating against Saddam Hussein. That is one reason she is a good choice.
"You're on the wrong blog. The Bush Historical Revisionism Society is down the hall, to the far right, and off the cliff."
I think I am on the right blog. Your comments and those of others are revisionism, not fact.
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Please Don't Feed The Ridiculous Right-Wing Trolls.
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