Petulant Clown Prince ‘may take his ball and go home if he doesn’t get his way’: With a ten-point drop in his approval ratings and the defection of moderate Republicans on the healthcare reform bill, as well as a looming defeat in the campaign reform struggle, and his failure to get European leaders to love him, to change their minds on the Kyoto accords or to embrace NMD on his first overseas trip,

Bush “continues to send a signal that, ‘I’m going to do what I want to do, and if

nobody likes it, I’m going to go back to Crawford’,” ( LATimes political writer Ronald) Brownstein wrote, quoting (a)

lobbyist. Presumably, Bush would serve out his four-year term

before returning to his ranch.

Republicans present these “back to Crawford” threats as a sign of Bush’s principled

leadership, but the warnings could sound to others like a petulant child vowing to take

his ball and go home if he doesn’t get his way.

Some might see a tinge of megalomania – or at least conceit – in the threat, as if Bush

thinks he is so vital to the nation that his departure in a huff must be avoided at all costs.

This attitude has shown through in other recent remarks in which he expresses unbridled

confidence in his skills as president, including his presumed ability to judge the character

of other leaders he barely knows. Consortium News

[If the consequences weren’t so dangerous, we could dismiss W. as merely pitiable and laughable.]