Tuesday, April 13, 2004

What Were We Thinking When We Elected Bush?

As I paced in a square around my living room tonight listening to my President (try) to speak, one though kept rolling over and over in my head, playing like a broken record: how did anyone so ill-suited to the job ever become President of the United States? I listened to Bush and I was embarrassed once again for our nation, that we should have such a man represent us before the world. Do we (Americans, or at least the one who voted for Bush), think the Office of the President of the United States that superficial that just anyone can occupy the Oval Office? The Office calls for a man—or woman—of intellect, of vision, of wisdom, a person able to think on their own and on their feet—which by the way Bush admitted he was not able to do. It is not a job for the mediocre, the lazy thinker, the easily malleable, the simple minded; all qualities Bush clenches in his hands with gusto.

Bush did not answer one question with a direct intelligible answer, not one. I gleamed nothing from the news conference. I know no more about U.S. intentions in the Iraq and Afghanistan then I did when he mumbled his first words. He spoke of a plan to combat Terrorism, where is it? He holds doggedly to the June 30th date to hand over power to the Iraqis but freely admits to not knowing which Iraqi will assume the mantle. Bush side-stepped question after question, rambling off on unrelated topics, or repeating a now tired theme of comforting the families of the victims of 9/11 and the ongoing War in Iraq, leading my wife to dub him the Consoler-in-Chief. I ask you my fellow Americans, is this leadership? Is this the man and the Administration that is going to win the War on Terrorism, the War in Iraq, and the War on Drugs? How has he done so far? He clings to some arcane notion that bring democracy to Iraq will end terrorism when in fact the key to that treasure chest lies a couple of hundred miles the east in the Israel.

It was painful to watch our President fail so miserably at that which we so sorely need right now at this juncture in our history: leadership. Bush is not now, nor was he ever, nor will he ever be a leader, at least not the caliber of leader needed to see this nation through one of the most difficult periods in our history. The Presidency is not a an office in which little power is vested in our Republican system of governance; the President in fact wields an enormous amount of power, and with that power comes an equal amount of responsibility not only to the people of the United States but, increasingly to the world.

Bush is not the right person for the job, he never was, and never will be. Listening to the man for five minutes will starkly illustrate my point. What were we thinking as a people to cast even one vote for the Bush, and how can we even begin to reelect him?