Shades of Herman Wouk! George Bush strolled into the Rose Garden today and channeled the behavior of Captain Philip Francis Queeg as described in the Caine Mutiny. He avoided grasping for small steel balls in his coat pocket and rolling them menacingly in his hand (no clack, clack to compliment the clicks of cameras) but he did have the shrill, hysterical tirade down pat. For those not familiar with the Queeg character, consider the following traits described courtesy of Wikipedia:
Queeg is assigned as captain of the U.S.S. Caine
Sort of like being named President by the Supreme Court–a command decision.
He is initially welcomed by the crew as a tough, no-nonsense veteran, who will shape up the ship after his slovenly predecessor’s departure.
Oval Office oral sex does not qualify as “slovenly”, but it certainly was tawdry. Despite the uproar surrounding his appointment, most of the country welcomed Governor Bush–the tough minded, compassionate conservative–as a tonic to restore honor to the Presidency.
After a honeymoon period, it becomes apparent that Queeg is prone to eccentric behavior. Queeg displays a micro-managing command style and (sometimes unprovoked) angry outbursts.
How about eccentric behavior? Does sitting immobile for several minutes in a Florida classroom on 9-11 after being told the United States was bombed count? Chopping wood on ones ranch while the city of New Orleans drowns in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina seems queer. The New York Times editorial from 19 July 2006 noted that, “the really weird thing is his (Bush’s) sense of victimization. He’s strangely resentful about the actual core of his job. Even after the debacles of Iraq and Katrina, he continues to treat the presidency as a colossal interference with his desire to mountain bike and clear brush.”
Micro-manager? Okay, not so much. Manager? Not so much. The most vacationed President in the history, spends little time managing anything. But “anger”? That’s another story. The jutting jaw tirade unleashed during today’s press conference was occasionally interrupted by the Bush smirk. Doubt Bush was angry? Give NBC’s David Gregory a shout.
As time passes, he begins to make mistakes that endanger his crew. He neglects to order the ship to stop turning while reprimanding a crew member for having his shirttail out, and so the ship steams over its own towline, parting it.
If you are going to invade a country, history demonstrates the invader should be prepared for the aftermath. George Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq but took a nap when it came to post-war planning. George Bush ordered U.S. troops out of Afghanistan before the Taliban were fully destroyed and Bin Laden in hand. Today, Iraq is embroiled in an escalating civil ware and the Taliban are back with a vengeance in Afghanistan. Bush actions and inactions are endangering America and, as noted just yesterday by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, undermining our nation’s moral authority.
When called on the carpet by a superior after this incident, he refuses to acknowledge it happened, or to admit blame in any way.
Senate Intelligence Committee reports anyone? Last week’s bipartisan report documents multiple examples of Bush ignoring and misrepresenting intelligence on Iraq to the American people. For example, Bush consistently portrayed Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein as partners in the crime of terrorism. The intelligence community, however, said no–there was no operational relationship. This was the consensus of the analysts. Yet Bush continued to insist the opposite.
. . .the Caine is ordered into combat. Queeg is observed to always frequent the sheltered side of the ship’s bridge from the beach. When he orders the ship to withdraw before reaching the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Line_of_departure&action=edit"?line of departure while escorting a Marine landing craft under hostile fire, his subordinates consider him either crazy or a coward.
George Bush, who hid out in the Alabama National Guard rather than serve in Vietnam, was crazy like a fox. Bush is Commander-in-Chief but accepts no responsibility for insufficient troop strength in Iraq. Bush claims the security of the United States depends on success in Iraq, but takes no action to boost the manpower and materiel of the U.S. military. No member of the Bush family has served in Iraq or Afghanistan during this war.
Another episode which highlights Queeg’s behaviors occurs when a quart of strawberries go missing from the wardroom icebox. Remembering how he helped solve a mystery involving a similar theft when he was an ensign earlier in his career, Queeg attempts to recreate his former accomplishment by insisting the strawberries were pilfered by a crewmember with a duplicate key. Queeg orders every key on the ship collected, and a thorough search made. During the search, the captain is confronted with evidence that the messboys ate the strawberries. Queeg loses all enthusiasm for the search, though he orders it to continue, and it is continued in a desultory way amid public mocking of the captain.
Two words–Valerie Plame. Bush flim flams the American people with a false story that Iraq is buying uranium in West Africa. The husband of secret CIA operative Valerie Plame–Ambassador Joseph Wilson–alerts the press that the claim is bogus. Eager to discredit Wilson, Administration officials–including Richard Armitage, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby–fan out thru the Washington press corps with the story that Wilson’s wife sent him on a boondoggle. Following the public disclosure that Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA operations officer, George Bush vowed to punish the leakers. When he “learns” that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby are culprits, his enthusiasm for justice peters out.
George Bush is the Captain Queeg of the U.S.S. America. The ship and her crew–the American people–are endangered by his sins of omission and commission. When warned in August of 2001 by the CIA that Al Qaeda was ready to strike inside the United States, he did nothing to confront the threat. Then came 9-11. Since unleashing the dogs of war in Iraq, terrorist attacks in which people are killed and wounded have quadrupled. Surrendering the high ground earned during the Cold War against the Soviet Union, George Bush approves secret prisons, torture, and trials with secret evidence. Actions once considered unique to Soviet tyrants are now staining the garments of the cloak of American justice.
Instead of mature, measured leadership, America is saddled with a man that would probably frighten the fictional Captain Queeg. Like the character portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, George Bush compensates for his insecurity and inadequacy with shows of bravado and choleric indignation. But this ain’t the movies folks. This is real. Like the crew of the U.S.S. Caine, there is a growing realization that the Captain is a little crazy. Mutiny anyone?
