Pictures on the Wall

I watched a little of the Bush press conference this morning. He is feeling pretty comfortable in his role with the White House press corps. He calls on his chosen ones, using their first names or nicknames, knowing they will not ask him anything challenging and that he has been prepared by his press staff - briefed is the right word, since they give him something brief to say in response to any question on a major topic. He can use the brief generic response and then continue on making the same generalized rambles that he uses in his campaign speeches.

Campaigning is what Bush likes to do. Though he is not running for office again, he is now campaigning for his legacy - as the man who would be remembered for changing America from an "entitlement society" to an "ownership society". This morning in one response he said he likes to make decisions and does not spend time walking around the White House talking to the pictures on the wall about what his legacy might be. That is a symptom of the problem. Bush is a man with no sense of history. I doubt he even knows who the people in the pictures are, except the ones whose faces he might recognize from being on our money. If he knew who they were and was knowledgeable about how they made decisions on the issues of their day, he would learn there is a difference between making decisions and making wise decisions.

Bush is a wise guy but he is not wise. He knows how to divide people by getting some to suck up to him while being acerbic to others, and then taking advantage of the suckers like any good con man. He still acts like a spoiled college frat boy, slouching and joking as he rewards others with the pleasure of his company. He occasionally uses pretended self-deprecating humor, all the while projecting clearly that he has a very high opinion of himself for what he has accomplished. If he could truly speak his mind, I expect he would say something like,"You people may think you are smarter than me, but I would rather be a dumb President than a smart-ass reporter like you – heh, heh, heh."

Watching Bush respond this morning made me chuckle when he said, "Personal accounts is not a permanent fix for the solution". I cringe when I hear him fumble with answers on subjects he does not begin to understand and then resort to the childish tactic of using the words from the question to fake an answer. But then when I think of the horrors that have resulted from his decision to invade Iraq, I get angry and wish we had a President like some of the ones in the pictures, wise enough to consider the evidence and the lessons of history and to apply good sense, discernment and wisdom before making decisions.