I'm noticing a change in the way President Bush is being described everywhere there is discussion. Blogs (not the rabid left-wing ones of course), teachers and most people are beginning to describe his actions as not necessarily evil, but as a product of his upbringing, his relation with addiction, and even his lack of interest in politics. People close to him have said that he would have preferred to be baseball commissioner. What a different world this would be if that were the case. I'm sure baseball would be in terrible shape, but that seems like a small price to pay.He's a frontman, someone shoved into a position not exactly against his will but more due to the momentum of his family. Born in Connecticut, educated in Yale, member of Skull and Crossbones, you would think he would be enmeshed in the Northeast elite, but that does not seem to be what he wanted. He rebelled with alcohol, baseball and cocaine. After publicly embarrassing the family enough, his mother gave him the ultimatum of cleaning up or getting disowned. It was at this point he was "born again," when Rev. Billy Graham asked Bush about his relationship with God up in Kennebunkport. He became focused on God and sobriety (a really bad mix if you ask me) and gained the black and white mentality that were so familiar with now. This focused, single-mindedness is pretty common in recovering addicts, it's the 12 step thought process.
So what are the American people stuck with for eight years? A President that creates an axis of evil. A President with no intellectual curiosity. A President that is influenced by a room of his dad's old friends more than he is by his own views and opinions. A President that ignores the Constitution he swore to defend. A President that is a failure and a disappointment to the world, the nation and I'm guessing even his family. Thankfully, we're not stuck with him for much longer. I think it's interesting that after Bush we elected the first openly intellectual President in my lifetime (which isn't that long in terms of national histoy, I know). At least there's no way Obama could be worse.
Sorry for the rant on the done-to-death topic of our outgoing President, but I'm doing my senior thesis on the Bush Doctrine (lolz @ Palin) and well, it's kind of on my mind. I don't remember where I got the picture from, it's in the style of Wondermark, but I don't think it was done by Mr. Malki.
One love.
-Olek
i was intrigued in the way that NYT described bush in his recent interactions with obama, when they met to discuss the transfer of power, that he was realistic
ReplyDeleteand what he supposedly said to obama when he first met him, warning him of celebrity and that "they" would wait for him to slip up
a part of me feels like a good majority of us would have failed in the same manner he did... we're puppets!
ppee pee and poo poo, a classic!
sorry tahts me, kat!
ReplyDeleteDamn, I still need to see W.
ReplyDeleteWord, I still need to see W. as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we aren't cutting him enough slack. There's a term in Psychology for people's paradoxical tendency to ignore circumstance when looking at other people's action, yet chalk up all of their own actions to circumstance. I forget what it's called, but I feel like it may be relevant here.
Actually, scratch that. He was the fucking president. If you have a fucked up life and are a douche bag because of that, whatever. You're still accountable for the stupid shit you do when you're in charge of something. If the manager of a company had a tough time growing up and later brings said company crashing into the ground in a fit of flames no one's going to be like, "oh, wait, it's okay--he had a real tough life." Everyone is going to think he shouldn't have been a manager in the first place.
Maybe I'm just a rabid left-winger with bad analogies.
remember at the mt zion concert, the band was like "your president.."
ReplyDeleteand some guy was like "not my president, i didnt vote for him"
but the response from stage was like, "enough of you voted him in, hes your president"
so yes, he shouldn't have been in that position in the first place (pushed into it by his family or not), but "we" were dumb enough to elect him twice
I would never try to say he isn't responsible, he is a criminal after all. I was just noting that there is a more balanced explanation other than he's the devil. Circumstances make us who we are, but we still make our own decisions. I wasn't trying to say he's had a tough life therefore he's not responsible for his own actions, in fact, his life hasn't been tough. I don't want to cut him slack because of his circumstances. Everyone comes out of circumstances, but some people manage to be decent and thoughtful despite everything. He failed at that and that failure is his alone. If there were a hell, not many people would be more fit to fry in it than this man.
ReplyDeleteImagine if Bush goes to jail like Fujimori? Dang.
ReplyDelete