The clueless defector in chief
He lacks the knowledge or the motivation to acquire the knowledge necessary to do his job and we all suffer. He continues to show his ignorance even of basic geography, asking Charlotte Church recently where the city of Wales is located. He displays a knowledge of the world only a barfly would be proud of. The teachers who gave him passing grades at Andover should be ashamed.
The meritocracy completely failed in the case of Bush. Instead, the same forces of wealth and influence that got him his position continue to fabricate a complimentary image of him. Their stories of his activities during September 11 change through time and contradict each other. The American people who had their peace and prosperity ripped from them must eventually see through this charade. It takes saturation coverage of a bin Laden to make Bush look good.
This article drips with a contempt for the Shrub similar to what I continue to feel. Despite my understanding that I’m hopelessly out of tune with the times in worrying about the man’s intellectual limitations, hypocrisy a quantum level beyond that of most other politicians, and the pitiful charade that he runs anything, much less an Administration or a nation, it is viscerally necessary from time to time for me to give out with such spasms of contempt. I do, however, quibble with the following:
September 11 happened on his watch. He is to blame. If he had been at work in the Oval Office, he would have been briefed on the threat. If he took his job seriously, he would have taken the trouble to become better informed about what the government already knew of bin Laden’s plans. He should have taken steps to prevent the carnage. Instead, he relaxed at his Crawford ranch.
I quibble with it not because it ‘blames the victim’ but because it doesn’t blame the victim nearly enough. Our intelligence failure in not tracking al Qaeda or anticipating its intentions and our pursuit of swaggering neoimperialist policy guaranteed to galvanize extremist rage are far deeper and more institutionalized than one man’s stupidity and noblesse oblige no matter how profound. Online Journal [via BookNotes]
On the other hand, the Washington Post reports that the Clinton administration took far broader steps against al Qaeda than is generally understood. And, while we’re at it, Helen Hightower asks Do You Love America? Do You?
