COLLAPSE OF THE GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENCY
Updated Thursday, January 31, 2008 08:22 PM
The Arrogance of Unfounded Presumption of Social Superiority
The Destruction of a Presidency
Most even reasonably objective observers agree that the George W. Bush Presidency is falling apart in several different ways - in Iraq - in its political strength - in its appointments - in its domestic program - in its ability to govern the Nation.
This Presidency has been plagued from the first day with situations which largely reflect an assumption that George W. Bush represented some sort of superior person, but whose problem solving has been immature and troubled. Bush, like Reagan, who could be elected by the reactionary movement which called itself conservative - largely because they had well known names - appeared to be attractive personalities - but were thin personalities with deep weaknesses. As a practical matter - the real leadership of this movement - from its inception during the early Roosevelt administrations were reactionary - historically immature - with deep seated hatreds toward women, Jews, Catholics, any person of any color - essentially fascist in word and action. Over the years - not a one of them could possibly be elected President in the United States.
Richard Nixon told me personally - in the 1964 election period - that he would adopt enough of their policy to be elected - clearly Reagan liked their script - and historically quite clearly never had an original - unscripted thought - and George W. Bush - who Karl Rove figured he could offer to the same conservative crowd as a candidate because George was also scriptable - and each was elected. Gerald Ford would put up with none of the conservative nonsense - and they cut his political throat at the polls. The conservative crowd could not divert the first George Bush presidency because they did not have an alternative candidate - but they decided anybody was better than George I in 1992 - even a Democrat if they had the Congress.
But they ran out their political string with George W. Bush - there is nobody more unmanageable politically than a person who has been told endlessly by somebody (by Karl Rove) that he is bright - but he cannot speak the English language with two consecutive complete sentences. He is like the Doctor that knows he is very bright in medical matters, and thinks that transfers over to the cattle business because everybody told him he is bright in medicine. And to top it off - he thinks he is from a superior social class because of his lineage and that gives him good judgment as a President.
One deadly political phenomenon arising out of this was that the primary appointees of the President were from the core of the conservative corporate political movement - Rummy, for example, and Newt, and Wolf. Huge numbers of others were politically doctrinaire in the dogma of the political Right - these get the President into trouble on an almost daily basis - these chosen almost totally without his understanding anything about them. Cronies of the GOP Congress were appointed for every bad reasons - and George didn't know their names. And the controlling crowd let him bring along a few friends, like Ms Rice, his personal legal counsel, AG Gonzales, and a handful of others from Austin. His personal pals just did not have the political experience to keep out of the disasters set up in the road for uninformed - unskilled politicians. Politics at the Presidential level is almost impossible to describe in terms of its complexity and toughness.
If the Iraqi War was a war of liberation to George, it is a war of oil economics to his administration, if tax reductions to the rich were sold to George as examples of enlightened economic policy - they are pocket-padders for the rich, if is true that all administrations have lame duck period at the end - George is blaming disregard for the wisdom of his inherent social position wherein he serves under the Doctrine of Devine Right for the failure of his administration.
By the third generation of any family lineage there is historic disaster in matters of money and wisdom - and it is costing thousands of men and women their lives and health in a war for the Aristocrats who are genuinely unable to understand that government by law rather than the fiat of superior personal judgment will win out.
Updated May 5 2007