"Heck of a job, Brownie..."

News and Views
The Armchair Curmudgeon
February 16, 2007


The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here!

With an approval rating that’s sinking faster than one of my vaunted soufflés, one has to wonder what this hopelessly detached, ego-centric president could be thinking of when he decides that more troops are the answer. Does he not realize that if it’s today’s answer, why wasn’t it yesterday’s answer. Shouldn’t he have to answer that question before we entrust him with the lives of 20,000 plus more troops? After all we’re not talking about golf balls or trading cards here, we’re talking about human lives. Why did he insist that we had enough boots on the ground to do the job four years running and then just a few weeks ago declaring that more troops was the missing solution? Was this God whispering in his ear again?

Of course, one’s objectivity isn’t helped along when your number two thinks things are rosey all over Iraq on those rare occasions when he surfaces from his underground nest..

I don’t know where he gets his SOMA but maybe that’s why he doesn’t surface all that often except to change batteries, shoot someone in the face or make some inane comment that shows that the disconnect runs even deeper than we may have imagined..

Overall, there is a growing body of opinion that suspects that if Bush is not the most isolated president, he surely must be the most stubborn.

One thing is sure. He is not a man to look back or second guess why he did something.
In his own mind, he is always right. He is the inexorable man vs. the unyielding object. If things go wrong, it’s the advice, it’s a bad source, it’s failed research. It could not be him…

It must be satisfying to be so right all of the time.

And to be so deluded. Of course, in his own mind, he associates himself with Harry Truman, the plain down to earth mid-westerner who left an indelible impression on his presidency.. But the fact of the matter was that Harry Truman had the personal courage and conviction to say I was wrong or to take responsibility for his actions. And if a General was wrong or stepped out of line, he got the proverbial boot!.

So, if our president thinks he’s Harry Truman, it’s fair game to make comparisons.
For starters, consider the prognosis of Tommy Franks, the Four Star who thought that Iraq was going to be a walk in the park according to the latest information made available to the media.

. If you go through his slide presentation, it was clear that America would prevail without raising a sweat; after four years, we would be down to a holding position with some 5,000 troops left doing clean up!

It is one thing to be an optimist; it’s quite another to mislead your commander in chief to curry favor. But rather than being advised to go back and take the presentation seriously, Franks earned an early retirement and a medal instead of a boot in the behind. Truman would not have rewarded Tommy Franks for the for the prevailing grim statistics that show over 1,300 dead and 22,000 wounded because of a general’s miscalculations…. The buck would have ended with Tommy Franks having to bear responsibility for his wildly inaccurate projections. In the real world, if you make mistakes, there is payment due; not in the world of George Bush; instead you get a medal.

But Bush’s disconnect doesn’t end there. Let’s extrapolate:

Didn’t the eleemosynary position of FEMA Chief earn a pat on the back for a job well done when in fact nothing had been done while thousands suffered without aid, water or food in New Orleans. Brown, himself, in an unbelievable admission said that he had only learned about how serious things were from TV coverage before acting. My God, man, have you no shame?

And would George Tenant have earned a spot on TV and a fancy medal after saying Iraq was a “slam dunk?” More likely, he would have been hauled in front of a review board and made to apologize for embarrassing himself and the entire CIA and then he would have been fired.

What does this say about George Bush and the entire Executive staff? Clearly, running a country requires more than just the acquisition of power; it also requires a team capable of doing the heavy-lifting. It’s one thing to want to lead, it’s quite another to make that leadership work. . And clearly George Bush’s team, by their own performance, are woefully unfit for the job!

Overall, when the historians come to measure George, one would be surprised if he didn’t come up one of the worst presidents ever. And his attempt to measure up with Harry not only laughable but one of the best definitions of chutzpah yet heard! In fact, in some distant future, To Bushspeak may become a synonym for getting things not only wrong but 100% wrong 100% of the time… A fine legacy from a once proud family!...


Les Aaron.