Kings

[poliphilo]

George Bush reminds me of those useless late-18th century kings, George III and Louis XVI. He has no instinct for leadership; he has to be told what to do. "Say, Mr President, don't you think it would be a good idea if you flew down to the Delta and put in an appearance?" "Awww...do I have to?"

A natural-born leader would have been down there, mingling with the refugees, just as soon as it was safe to fly.

Sooner or later every dynasty throws up a man unsuited to the job.

George III was a successful farmer and Louis XVI had a talent for watchmaking and George Bush- if left to his own devices- would have cut the mustard (just)in the lower levels of middle management.

Did they tip the tea into Boston harbour for this? I think not.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There seems to be a tendency for all political systems to decline towards monarchy. We're seeing it in Britain too.

[philtration.livejournal.com]

This guy has been sucking from the oil tit since the day he was born. If his grandfather had not struck it rich he very well could have been the assistant manager at the local bakery. Out of 290 million people, this is the best that we have to offer?
I wonder where our friends and allies are. We rush around the globe trying to save people in every kind of disaster known, yet I have heard nothing about any help offered to us when we are in need. We send rescue workers and search dogs, food and clothing, blood and medical equipment, builders and engineers and reach into our pockets for billions of dollars and what do we get in return? Ridicule, spite, hatred and scorn. Sometimes I feel that we should just take care of ourselves for the next 50 or 60 years. We rebuild our former enemies into economic powers so they can shit on us when ever they get the chance. We have been the benevolent friend to the world for many years and have received nothing but a knife in the back in return. I say spend those billions of dollars that we give to people who hate us on trying to free ourselves of oil dependency.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I heard on the news this morning that the USA was accepting offers of foreign aid. I haven't checked out the details, but there was talk of Russia helping out and Britain and other European nations.

I think there may have been a certain reluctance to come forward because- hell- you're the richest, most powerful nation in the world and maybe you'd take offence.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Several countries sprang forward at once to offer help and their help was declined, at least at first. Canada was one of the first and was told, "We don't need you."

George Bush wouldn't even be an assistant manager at a local bakery. He has managed to screw up every single job he has had since he started, but Papa has enough money to keep buying him into bigger and better ones. He reached his level of incompetency just after birth, but unfortunately, his parents refused to accept that.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Actually, help was offered from other countries, and thanks to red tape and bureaucratic bullshit, it was turned back at the border.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

If his grandfather had not struck it rich he very well could have been the assistant manager at the local bakery.

Hahaha. True.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Please recall that everyone's first reaction to Katrina was one of relief that New Orleans was apparently going to be spared the worst of it (this from a New Orleans refugee glued to WWL-TV in her hotel room in Houston).

I don't think it was until Tuesday that the magnitude of this disaster became apparent, and at that time Bush cancelled the remainder of his vacation to return to Washington. Once there, he set the wheels in motion for Wednesday night's passage of a $10 billion aid bill.

Leaving aside for the moment all questions of Bush's competence, I think that getting the aid flowing first, touring the region second is a pretty good set of priorities.

Folks who are getting their news from the national or international feeds might appreciate the reality check of logging onto http://wwltv.com .

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The charge against Government is that the defences of New Orleans have been steadily eroded over the past two or three decades. The Wetlands, which act as a buffer zone between the city and the sea, were sold off for draining and development under Reagan and Clinton- and the Bush administration (though officially warned of the hurricane danger) has compounded matters by axing the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers and posting much of the Louisiana National Guard (plus vehicles and equipment) to Iraq.

The article I'm mainly drawing on can be read in full here- http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090105Q.shtml

[philtration.livejournal.com]

Bush has equaled the number of vacation days taken by Reagan as the most of any president in U.S. history. Here is the killer; Reagan did it in 8 years and Bush in less than 5.

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

That may be and it may be in any case that
the President is not a "natural born leader"
but now let us imagine in the chaotic and
impossible situation there that somehow a
wedge of security and support personnel and
the President push their way to the heart of
the problem and then extricate themselves ,
what will be the effect? Conceivably if
everything is done just right and goes
well that all those people waiting for
transportation out will be encouraged and
heartened... I can think of other possiblities
can't you?
There are people, even a perhaps small minority
but a significant number who are so politcially
polarized that any step the President takes
becomes the wrong one and any steps they can
imagine that he does not take becomes his failure,
this also factors in to the question of how such
a use of resources as to insert and extract the
President would go...
Condiser the example of what you have said yourself
going down to the delta becomes...not enough...
and is discounted before it happens as to any
good result...if he had not gone at all? Of course
this would be as bad or worse.
It is the normal application of politics but in a
situation which is intolerabe in so many ways, I
wonder if it is helpful?
and this is not to question precisely-you- on the
contrary your expression is ,as any from you, rather
reasoned and modulated ,one can find obviously much
less reasoned and less modulated expressions
everywhere and even it is then exemplary but still
it is to question this line of thought and its
helpfulness...
+Seraphim.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I take your point, the thing has happened now and recriminations are useless.

But another President- Reagan or Clinton perhaps- would have been down there, doing the folksy thing and hugging survivors, and generally helping America to feel better about itself.

Bush has been an amazingly bad President and his administration bears some responsibilty for the poor state of New Orleans's sea defences and the inadequacy (thus far) of the relief operation. He has got away with a lot in the past because of the perception that it is unpatriotic to attack the President in time of War. He can't be allowed to use this new crisis as yet another shield.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

When will people start to realize that their votes DO count? If all the people who are complaining about the competency of the current President actually vote in the next election, who knows? Perhaps a government representative of the actual population might be elected!

There was a problem with Canadian aid getting here, because of Homeland Security. But I heard on the news this morning that 'help' was being accepted, even after the current President opened his mouth and inserted BOTH his feet. If I was France, or for that matter England, Russia OR Canada, after hearing what he said about not expecting any help 'but please send money' I would have taken any aid and recycled it back into the country.

I thought the tea was tipped into Boston Harbor so that this country could have a government selected 'by the people, for the people'.

The people who don't vote. The people who sit back and criticize but don't go to the polls and make their opinions known. The people who complain that nothing can be done - and then proceed to prove it by doing NOTHING.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The American President is our President too- only we don't get a vote.

If the people of europe had had a say in the US elections, Bush wouldn't have had a prayer- either time.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I hear he's going to make a brief appearance in New Orleans.

Gee. I wonder if he'll appear in front of the Convention Center, where the people are walking through dead bodies and watching each other die.

I think not.

One woman is in labor. God help her.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

This is a President who doesn't "do" people. Not unless they're entirely safe. He doesn't have the wit to deal with any degree of hostility or questioning.

If he does show up at the Convention centre I'll be mightily impressed. I think Clinton would have considered doing it. Reagan too.

Leadership is very much about gestures. About being at the right place at the right time, about saying the right things. The best Presidents have all had that instinct for the appropriate and inspiring.

[beiderbecke.livejournal.com]

i just used the EXACT SAME ANALOGY with a friend of mine! those boy kings who are used as nothing more than just signing things they can't understand.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

George Dubya has come by his job for no better reason than that's he's the son of a "king". This is a big problem with hereditary monarchy- there's no quality control. One king or queen can have what it takes and the next in line be a total idiot.

[sovay]

George III was a successful farmer and Louis XVI had a talent for watchmaking and George Bush- if left to his own devices- would have cut the mustard (just)in the lower levels of middle management.

And that would have been far, far safer for pretty much everyone else on the planet.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

George Dubya is a feckless aristo of limited intelligence with an addictive personality and a record of underachievement. In a properly functioning democracy someone like him wouldn't get within sniffing distance of real power.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Ah, you remind me of this Private Eye cover from 2001. Of course, the US Army is so tied up in other people's countries right now that they can't come to the rescue of their own.

During the Florida election fiasco of 2000, I remember Fidel Casto offering to send independent election observers. I wonder, has he offered to send troops on a humanitarian (or even, given the reports, peace-keeping) mission this time?

[philtration.livejournal.com]

You are correct. We have 20,000 troops in South Korea and another 200,000 scatted across Europe. I want those troops protecting our border with Mexico. It is time for other nations to defend themselves. How many billions of U.S. tax dollars have been spent over the years trying to keep the Soviets out of Europe? Do you really believe that flowers and banners and singing songs of peace kept them from doing the same thing that the Nazi's did? Who saved Britain in the war? Chamberlain or Churchill?

[philtration.livejournal.com]

I see that the French government is blaming this disaster on the U.S. for not reversing the global warming trend. Yes, it is now our responsibility to change the climate of the entire planet! Funny how they say nothing about the biggest polluter in the world, China.
Japan has offered $200,000. That is not a mistake in my typing. $200,000. After we were ridiculed across the globe for offering $30,000,000 for the tsunami victims. After rebuilding Japan and then spending 60 years defending them so their economy can grow strong, they offer $200,000.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I saw him make that speech. Yes, "inappropriate" doesn't cover it. He just doesn't have a clue.

And then he was hugging these two refugee women and turning them round so that the cameras could get a better view.

[philtration.livejournal.com]

Here is the latest quote from George W. Bush on our nightmare her in the states:
"The good news," said President Bush, "is that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubble of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."

I am not a religious man but....oh my fucking god! How could we have elected this moron as the president of the United States of American? He proved to us during his 1st term that there should have never been a 2nd one. I am stunned.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I saw this speech. "Inappropriate" doesn't begin to cover it. The guy really doesn't have a clue.

And then he was filmed hugging these two refugees and he was turning them round so that the cameras could get a better view.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

To quote Bill Hicks 'Have you ever noticed at how people who believe in creationism look really unevolved?'

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And that's certainly true of His Majesty....

[kaysho.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the constitution should be amended so that the President must not only be a natural-born citizen and at least thirty-five years old, but also must not be a direct descendant of another president.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I expect the neo-cons could develop an argument to prove that that was what the founding fathers REALLY had in mind.