Bush under the spotlight; it ain't pretty

By Lee Russ

Monday, September 05, 2005 at 04:07 PM

The entire debacle in New Orleans reveals exactly what is wrong with our would-be-illustrious president:

 He governs as only one who disdains government could; when your major genuine political aim is to shrink the size and role of government, you appoint people based on how well they can help you do that. Witness John Bolton and so many, many others.  Mike Brown, the head of FEMA, not only has virtually no experience for that job, but was FIRED from a prior job with a show horse organization for, as I understand it, running the group so poorly that they kept getting sued.

He favors the whole idea of "winning" more than he does governing.  Winning the election is a game, a contest, with excitement; governing is hard, often boring, and those people with microphones and pads ask so many questions!

He is a child of pampering and privilege, incapable of real understanding of what life is like for the have-nots of the world.  His professed compassion appears to be less than skin deep, a fact which becomes evident to many when he has to respond to situations where anger and defiance can't be trotted out: Cindy Sheehan, the New Orleans flood, etc.

He is a basically simplistic, superficial thinker, who understands anger and revenge far better than any other human motivations and emotions.  If only the hurricane and levee break were living creatures who could be "hunted down" (at least in rhetoric).

Will this be his undoing?  Will people finally understand that there is a crucial role for government in everyday lives, a role that this administration butchers daily?

I don't know for sure.  I think there's a chance that this is the tipping point, but that will depend largely on whether the public as a whole is angry enough to resist the extensive and well-financed propaganda blitz that is likely being planned as I write, which will throw all the far right's ammunition into deflecting the blame elsewhere.  If that fails, look for some action or policy to deflect attention.

The good news is that the media once again seems to be functioning as a watchdog.  At least for the moment.