Messiah in the white house

Not really much to say to that--we've got the SOB for the next two years; we can only hope that someone better comes along for whom we would not be ashamed to vote.

Setanta
Agreed, I just had to get it off my chest. Yesterday the UN today NATO and South Korea. He is doing his best to turn the entire world against us.
It is evident for all to see that no matter what the inspections reveal and the concessions Iraq makes nothing short of a regime change and an American take over of Iraq and it's oil fields will satisfy him.

If you lay down with the hounds, you'll get up with fleas. The Shrub's former employments, as well as those of Cheney, pretty well say it all for me with regard to oil.

Posted elsewhere but i think worth repeating.


Just before the Gulf War - the last Gulf War, that is - I was in Baghdad, staying at the Al-Rashid Hotel, when a family moved in across the hall. I remember the children, two boys who played boisterously in the hallway. I wondered what would happen to them when war came.
I suppose such thoughts would make me a bad President. I know that such thoughts were sometimes held against President Bill Clinton. He actually knew the name of a civilian killed by a wayward cruise missile in Baghdad: Layla al-Attar. She was a painter. To some, this made Clinton a softie.

This is not the case with President Bush - and that he seems so untroubled is, in itself, troubling. It's not that I don't think he is right about Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein and, if need be, the necessity to deal with him through war. It's rather that I see America going to war; he sees us embarking on a crusade.

The rest of the world, particularly Western Europe, recoils from that approach. It senses in his body language, not to mention his oft-repeated references to God, a man who is tone deaf to subtleties and nuances. In his speech, they hear a certain crudeness. Even in the high formality of the State of the Union address, he said of Al Qaeda terrorists who had been killed, "Let's put it this way, they are no longer a problem." It was a rhetorical smirk.

Recently, Bush has been telling us something with his walk. It is the parade walk of a man who has puffed himself up to show determination, leadership. It has a "no trespassing" sign all over it.

It has taken an iron sense of mission for Bush to confront the UN - not just Saddam. But this narrowness of focus is disquieting because it suggests that Bush does not see the bigger picture. Is Iraq so pressing that a North Korean bomb can be back-burnered? Is the Israeli-Arab conflict peripheral or, just maybe, central to what's happening in the Middle East?

Maybe this single-mindedness is the product of the President's deep religious belief - a conviction that he has been chosen for the task. This, too, is unsettling, especially in Europe, which is much more secular than America. Destiny and providence are a siren's call that reassures some, unnerves others. "I have been saved, destiny has chosen me, providence has preserved me," said Adolf Hitler after he survived an assassination attempt.

I am not putting Bush in the same category as Hitler. If anything, Saddam belongs there. But this reliance on providence, this tendency to see things in black and white, this contempt for the lives of the contemptible no matter what else may be at stake (capital punishment in Texas, for instance, or collateral damage in Baghdad), is hardly reassuring. Rarely does Bush explain. Usually he just declaims - quick sound bites of the game-is-over variety.

This plays badly not only abroad, but also at home, where Secretary of State Powell has become the more trusted figure. More and more, Bush is seen as inflexible - rigid on the economy, on tax policy, on getting the judges he wants.

What is increasingly missing is exactly the quality that once, especially in the days following Sept. 11, commended Bush to people like myself - a lack of rigidity, of shrillness, an open-faced easiness.

He himself called it compassion, but no matter what it is called, it is a leader's greatest virtue. Recently, though, it is nowhere to be seen.

There are some that see the fact that the President does believe in God as one of his greatest strengths. I, for one, do.

And what would you have him say? Well, gee I'm sorry they are dead and gone? I have compassion for those that are the innocents in the war, the children and so forth. Each man chooses to enlist or not knowing the consequences. And, it's sad to say, but some things in this world are that black and white. War is hell and a lot of people die in it.

And if President Bush did not walk upright and with confidence, it wouldn't inspire much confidence, now would it? You see it as arrogance and I see it as confidence. There is a difference.

Actually we have the dear man for a little more than the next three years since the elections for Jeb Bush are in November of 2008 and it is currently only July of 2005.

Further, I am in no way ashamed to say that I voted for Mr.Bush both times. Perhaps if the Democrats put up a viable candidate then they would have a chance of winning an election.

I like to think of it as "That mess in the white house..."
I think he has used his so called christianity to suck up to that element of the party and the nation.
His words and deeds do not reflect at all as those of a "good christian."

LeionTamer,

And just what is a "good Christian" in your opinion?

to paraphrase the good christians of 19th century america "the only good christians are the ones that have left this earth and gone to their heavenly reward leaving civilized humanity to a more tranquil life"

Dys,
Are you saying the only good christian is a dead christian ?

Where are all the lions when you need them?

LionTamer,

Well, if Dys isn't saying it, he's quoting someone who did. Which can be equated with "the only good black man is a dead black man? The only good lawyer is a dead lawyer? The only good woman is a dead woman? Where do you stop? The only good child is a dead child? A bit drastic maybe but what's the difference? Discrimination is discrimination. Bigotry is bigotry and ignorance is ignorance.

Moan, dys is paraphrasing something - not quoting.

http://www.dickshovel.com/ind.html

I think Mother Theresa was probably a pretty good christian.

I think that people who use christianity as a tool for gaining wealth and power are despicable.

ehBeth,

Thank you for pointing that out. I am not as learned as some of you and do appreciate the fact you take such care to put the focus on the backburner and point out the boo boo or should I say mistake? No wait, faux paus? What's the politically correct thing here?

LionTamer,

I totally agree with you. Anyone that would use their religion, any religion to gain personal wealth and power is despicable. And thank you for answering my question. I appreciate it.

Moan, the original phrase is an important one in American history - and understanding where comments originate can sometimes help understand them.

As it should be ehBeth, but the "moan" kind of turns me off. Kind of sounds like you are just tolerating my presence and want me to know it. My perception perhaps, but if not, enlighten me? What's the Moan for?

You're not my Momma so that's out as a form of address.

There is a much-loved poster on the site already known as MA, so MoAn, or something similar is the alternative if I want to address you.

ehBeth,

Please, please forgive me. I feel about this big right now. That's the one thing I find hardest about reading what someone says and not knowing them. It's all in the perception. And ehBeth, my perception was so totally wrong! I am so embarrassed I cannot tell you. Well, that's something else I have learned. I will definitely keep that in mind the next time I see something like that. Again, forgive me. I am so very sorry. I was wrong.