George of the Jungle

  Come on! An 84% approval rating?! Who are they talking about here, George Bush or God? Is the bar really that low as to warrant those numbers, or is there just a dearth of real leadership in this country? One must admit that George is a very lucky guy, and maybe luck is better then talent in the long run. But maybe it isn't.

     First, he's lucky to be in office, and if not for the incompetence of South Florida voters, he wouldn't be. Second, he's lucky to have had a major diversion draw attention away from his "domestic agenda", which thus far entails multi-tiered assaults that favor the privileged. And third, he's extremely lucky that the general populous has developed diminished expectations of leadership in general, and that position in particular. So I guess George is just living down to expectations, as it were.

     The war on Islamic terrorism (which is to say contemporary Islam) inflates the president's poll numbers, but let's look at this. Donald Rumsfeldt determines and directs the war's objectives. General Tommy Franks prosecutes the war. Colin Powell handles the international public relations and political fallout. Condoleeza Rice interprets what the president means after he speaks, the whole text of which is concocted by speechwriters. Those people deserve 84%, not George! Still, he gets it all, while lacking any vision, and doing little but serving as Spokesperson-in-chief. It's corporate bureaucracy disguised as a presidency, formulating little in domestic policy that benefits the hoi pol-loi, all the while fomenting class divisions and conflict over basic issues of equity and fairness.

     But one day this war will end, Scarlet, and when it does, George's rave reviews will end with it. It's no wonder he predicts a long war. He hopes it lasts the duration of his presidency, by which time the opinion poles will anoint him Abraham Lincoln. But on domestic issues, he's Herbert Hoover, and his luck may not out-last that. And with no more luck, George will possess little of what is necessary to confront issues festering as a consequence of bad judgement and lack of attention. Unless, of course, he can talk his father's friends into bailing him out of those things as well.