The Decider’s Last Days in Office: Dodging Shoes
President George W. Bush’s recent encounter with the shoe throwing Baghdad television reporter was an immediate iconic moment. In the highly revealing, unscripted episode, the universally discredited “Decider” was revealed in a manner that every sentient adult can understand. The immense uncertainty which flashed across Bush’s face as he ducked the in-coming size 10 shoes shattered the crumbling façade of invincibility behind which he has strode and preened on the world stage for eight awesomely destructive years.
Power had been slipping from his grip long before he made the ill-fated trip to Baghdad. But prior to the surprisingly well-aimed shoes hurtling toward his bobbing and weaving head, the President had managed to retain at least a modicum of superior authority. But ever since that David versus Goliath episode, he has been reduced, largely via domestic comedy routines, to being little more than a human dartboard for his many critics.
Recently, he and the Vice President have been engaged in a hectic, but largely ineffectual, propaganda offensive. They are doing their best to get their side of their story out regarding some of their most controversial actions under the cover of holding office. Mostly, their campaign is being waged via staged speeches before reliably supportive audiences composed almost wholly of uniformed military personnel. My suspicion is that those in attendance are expected to applaud the Commander in Chief, regardless of their individual thoughts about his comments.
The President and Vice President are also providing terse, one-on-one, interviews with selected, favored journalists. But their efforts to re-write the public record, and garner sympathy regarding their long list of apparently criminal acts committed under the cover of holding office is not going so well. The Vice President’s admission during a television interview last week that he approved of, and supported, policies that involved the use of torture is representative. To my knowledge, this deeply troubling admission didn’t win him, or the President he serves, any appreciable sympathy.
Rather, Vice President Dick Chaney is being showered with scorn on a near non-stop basis by virtually everyone who has publicly responded to his admission of personal culpability. President Bush’s recent, self-serving comments regarding the War in Iraq are engendering responses similar to those elicited by the Vice President.
The cavalier, disconnected, evasive, self-centered commentary and behavior exhibited by the two should be cause for concern. Harsh reality is closing in on them– and I can’t imagine any scenario wherein they are going to get the opportunity to enjoy, comfortable, uncomplicated retirements. Nonetheless, neither of them seems capable of acknowledging that their feckless, headstrong, actions have exacerbated many of this nation’s most serious problems.
For example, given the Vice President’s admissions, it seems reasonable to assume that cases involving premeditated crimes against humanity with Bush and Chaney at the center will occupy courts in this nation and abroad for many years to come.
There was a time in the not too distant pass when many people in this nation were afraid to publicly, and unabashedly, criticize the President and the Vice President. Some did. But, mindful of the ruthless exercise of authority at the root of the carefully maintained aura of invincibility which surrounded the administration, people who strongly disagreed with its actions and policies generally sought to cautiously express their opposition in ways which did not expose them to becoming individual targets. Everyone who has lived for any significant amount of time in a non-democratic, repressive society is familiar with the dynamics of fear, domination and submission that prevailed in the U. S. during a significant portion of the Bush presidency.
The fear engendered by the administration at the height of its influence and power had a near paralyzing impact on many people. That period extended from the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 attacks to the Katrina holocaust. Understanding the fear engendered by that behavior is an important key to comprehending the surprisingly pivotal role played by the Internet in the fall of “The Decider,” and his morally challenged enablers.
Those who opposed the administration engaged in numerous forms of resistance over the years, including massive marches and demonstrations. But the most important modes of opposition, the ones that culminated in successful opposition at the polls, were Internet-based. This was significantly due to the fact that the Internet made it possible for people to engage in opposition politics in ways that minimized the unavoidable personal risk incurred in public demonstrations. For the moment, I’ll note the obvious fact that publicly confronting people who admittedly engage in torture is a course of action that reasonable people tend to avoid whenever they possibly can.
In any event, the nation is currently faced with the task of deciding what to do now with Bush, Chaney, and the wreckage they will leave behind when they leave office in a month or so. However their numerous misdeeds are eventually handled, dealing responsibly with them is going to prove difficult. But it must be done. Congress and the courts have their separate roles to play. And my hope is that the adults in those institutions understand that the nation will be severely crippled if they sidestep the barrage of criminal accusations wending toward their desks.
It may turn out to be the case that concerned citizens will need to weigh in with so-called “boots on the ground” in order to keep our elected officials focused on their responsibilities pertinent to these matters. If and when such a moment arrives, taking it to the streets will be much easier (on some psychologically important level) because of the Baghdad shoe thrower. Although pleased that Bush was not hurt, I am more pleased by the fact that he has been exposed to the world as a relatively small man, who is fast on his feet, but abysmally slow regarding his understanding of reality’s tendency to set things right.