Reboot Right Out The Window

[thessalian]

Presidency: Reloaded? How do you relaunch a presidency? How do you gain back the loss of so much public faith? Libby's been indicted and Cheney's somehow involved. The situation in Iraq has got to the point where there's actual fragging by the troops (I didn't know that 'to frag' meant to kill off a superior officer; thanks, kixie!) and Democrats are forcing closed-door, media-free talks to find out why we went in in the first place. There was Katrina -- seriously, there was no way he could have handled that any worse without literally pissing himself and hiding under the bed.

You can tell a lot about a president and how he copes when a disaster of that magnitude happens later. Compare and contrast, shall we? Upon hearing the news that people flew planes into the WTC and Pentagon building, Bush looks like a five-year-old child who's about to cry for his mother and then just keeps on doing what he's doing. Upon hearing that NOLA's getting ripped apart by a hurricane and there are people still stuck in the area, Bush continues along with his holiday. Say what you will about Blair, he showed what he was capable of on 7th September. He wasn't reading to kids or being on holiday; he was in a global bloody conference, and yet the minute he got the news, he stood up in front of that hard-assembled company and basically said, "Sorry, guys, but someone just tried to blow up my city and they need me; I'll be back as soon as I can" ... then went back to London and did his best to take care of things. He may be a lapdog for Dubya, but at least when the people at home need him, he at least tries to be there.

So any suggestions for Bush 2.1? (It'd be Bush 2.0, but 1.0 would have been Bush Sr.) Because frankly, I'm of the opinion that a half-masticated taco shell could do a better job of running the country.

Oh, and by the way?

2,379 / 50,000 (4.8%)

And I'm adopting an egg. I figure I need something to look forward to in December... Besides Dragonmeet. Agh.

Comments

[blimey85.livejournal.com]

Are you suggesting that things would be better if Sadam was still in power?

I haven't been keeping up with the SCOTUS nominations. He's the man in charge and can nominate anyone he likes. That doesn't mean they'll be accepted... so I really don't care who his choices are. Eventually one of them will be worthy and will get accepted. Hopefully that person will be pro-life and support the 2nd amendment but only time will tell.

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

I can't say it would be better to have Saddam Hussein still in charge, because I never lived in a country he ran. I can't quantify it in that way because I have no basis for comparison. And in a way, you're right, some good has come of it; there's not a tyrannical despot running the country. The problem is that I'm not sure if anyone, there or here, is sure who's running the country, and there's nothing more terrifying than uncertainty. Unless it's armed soldiers running around the place and factions opposing the current governmental trend in the country running around alternately blowing things up and shooting people. I just love how people justify war on Iraq without even once thinking of the fact that we as nations didn't have to get involved, and frankly didn't get involved until it benefitted us in some way. Bush Sr launches the Gulf War because Iraq is invading Kuwait, and he didn't seem to think it was necessary to oust the tyrannical despot entirely once he'd driven the Iraqi forces back into their own borders. And at least he had a valid reason for engaging the armed forces against Iraq, rather than lies on top of lies on top of lies. You can paint it as pretty as you like, about how the US and UK armies are liberating the poor repressed people of Iraq and they got mean ol' Saddam Hussein, but that will not change the fact that the war was founded on lies, unsanctioned by the UN, derided by most of the world and a fair number of the people living in the countries actually fighting it, is draining resources that could best be used to help the hurricane victims (instead of siphoning off funds from things that can't afford it, like Medicaid) and has killed thousands of people over the past few years, mostly by accident.

The man in charge thinks God tells him what to do. He listens to the voices in his head and somehow loses no credibility. If he turns around and nominates someone who's never even served as a judge to the Supreme Court, and still loses no credibility because "He's the Prez, he can nominate who he wants", I despair for your country. And of course, I'm not even remotely in agreement on your views on abortion or the 2nd amendment, so I'm not even going to touch that one.

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

I think I meant 'oppressed'. And now I cannot edit. Bloody LiveJournal.

[neonchameleon.livejournal.com]

Are you suggesting that things would be better if Sadam was still in power?

In Iraq? Currently yes- which just shows what a terrible job the coalition is doing.

Power supplies last time I checked were still falling (and that after almost two years of occupation).

The Arabs have a proverb along the lines of "Better seven years of tyrany than a day of anarchy" (I forget the exact times) - and Iraq has moved from tyranny to anarchy.

Will it be worse in the long run? I certainly hope not. Now? Yes. (Count the number of insurgency incidents in a day...)