David Ingatius needs to work on his brevity. This is a lot of words to call Bush a phony that is in denial about the carnage he has caused.
Bush has lacked the tragic sensibility found in many of our great presidents. He works so hard at his show of easy informality that you rarely sense the inner man and the anguish that must be there. Watching him, you know he’s wound tight even as he tries to act loose. The locker-room nicknames and the exaggerated Texas mannerisms are part of the enforced informality. The longer he stays in Washington, the more pronounced his Texas manner of droppin’ his g’s. It’s a kind of camouflage, but it’s wearing thin. This is not a president at ease.
This is not a nation at ease. Bush is a frat-boy cheerleader, duty skirting, crook. He’s never won a fight, and he’s never gone to work and done a good job. He is the antithesis of everything he purports to represent. He’s not a tough guy, and no one can rely on him. Everything he touches turns to shit.
Ignatius thinks Bush is losing the war because he can’t communicate effectively. But that isn’t it. Bush has lost at everything he has ever attempted. And bemoaning Bush’s ineffective rhetoric is irresponsible. People should have looked at his record and realized that he would never be anything other than an embarassing failure as a President. Unfortunately, he has been much worse than an embarrassing failure. Careful observers could have predicted that too.
If we want to avoid the worst consequences of this administrations crimes and incompetence, Bush and Cheney should be removed from office. Everyone knows it. It’s just that everyone is standing around waiting for someone else to make the first move.
