[CTRL] The Invisible President

[William Shannon]

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/McIlvaine050701/mcilvaine050701.html The invisible president By PJ McIlvaine   May 7, 2001—It's one thing to have a president who is reticent about hogging the national spotlight, a leader who carefully chooses his words, cognizant that his actions, or lack of them, will reverberate through the world. It's altogether quite another thing to have a president who acts as if he's auditioning for the next big screen remake of the classic "The Invisible Man" and unfortunate still that when he does speak in his native tongue, he needs a translator. Republicans brayed for years about a "moral vacuum" in the Clinton White House. Now, in the Bush Lite dis-administration, they've gone one better: America now has a "leadership vacuum." In 100 days that has felt like 1,000 years, Boosh has managed to anger and alienate our allies (not to mention Democrats and even Republicans) with careless comments that have sent Oval Office staffers scrambling for Xanax as they try to explain away the latest Tin Star Cowboy gaffe. The latest hoo-haw over Taiwan was especially humiliating. Apparently the idea was for the Bogus Potus to demonstrate to the country, with this latest round of staged media interviews, that he's a "a hands on president" Instead, the Twig showed why he should be hands off. The Moron in Chief tramples through established foreign policy like a stampeding elephant while his staffers scurry behind, shovels in hand. The man has all the finesse of an atom bomb. George II seems to take particular delight in antagonizing China. Is this part of Secretary of Defense Rummy's grand strategy to push his Star Wars defense missile system down Congress' throat? Or did Chicken George, the first president (so far as we know) to suffer from dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder, forget to take a nap that day? Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps we should consult Jar Jar Binks. He and George the Lesser speak the same language. Ragging on Bill Clinton used to be a sport in Washington, but God knows, at least we knew where he was when trouble came, such as in the despicable Oklahoma City bombing and the Columbine massacre. Clinton's words went a long way to healing a hurting nation. The Moron from Midland, however, operates under the cover of Cheney and darkness. What is potentially embarrassing news (like Cheney earning $35 million last year) was quietly released on the Friday before Easter, which for all intents and purposes, was buried in the news cycle. The vast majority of the US media has all but caved in to Boosh's Charm Offensive. What are they afraid of? IRS audits? We all know that Bush came into office with the lowest of expectations, and he has gone out of his way to fulfill them. Apparently leadership to Boosh means humorous speeches before the party faithful where he pokes fun at his own disabilities and shows pictures of a barely clothed brother Jeb. Boosh can't even get his own kids to behave in a responsible manner. How do you think he'd do going toe to toe with Castro? Or Saddam Hussein? No wonder the Worm let it be known early on that our allies were on their own. For this part-time president, there can be no crisis after his 10 p.m. bedtime. Inanities come out of Boosh's mouth like flies around manure. During the spy plane fiasco, all 5–4 could ask was "did they have Bibles?" Skipper Waddle of the Greenville, in His Fradulency's mind, was a "patriot" because he "didn't try to evade the responsibility." No, the subsequent Naval whitewash did that for him. Is it any wonder now that Waddle's lawyer has said that he believes his client should be "rewarded" for everything he's gone through? Boosh can't even own up to the fact that he was born in Connecticut. He can't even acknowledge his own past drug abuse. He wants the world to think that he's some poor old hick country boy from Texas who simply wants to lift "America's spirit." And this is supposed to pass for leadership. I suggest to you that Boosh is many things, but being a leader isn't one of them. Boosh isn't just the weakest link, he's the missing link.