Unlike many Democrats, I have a hard time believing President Bush is a bad guy. Ideologically challenged, yes, but I was raised with the idea that most people are good and your should give them the benefit of the doubt. I've always felt that he's a nice guy that is simply wrong on the issues.
Sometimes, though, it's hard to keep that optimistic spirit. Today was one of those days. In responding to a reporter's question about the upcoming Senate vote on Attorney General Gonzales, the President was quoted as saying:
"They can have their votes of no-confidence but it's not going to make the
determination about who serves in my government."
Whose government, Mr. President? I was always taught that the government belonged to we, the people.
Although one might argue that this is simply another example of President Bush's famous difficulty with the English language, it appears to me to be yet another sign of the stubbornness and hubris that is the chief hallmark of this administration; yet another sign that the man secretly thinks he is "King George".
The remark may have been a slip, but it was at the very least a Freudian slip.
5 comments:
I would read "government" as "administration," and go with your first instinct -- I too believe that the President is basically a good guy, simply doing what he sincerely believes is right.
It gets scary whenever we demonize our political rivals. That's what Al Qaida does. There is no gray area. No room for disagreement. There are only good guys and bad guys, and the bad guys must be destroyed immediately!
I hope that we will each do our part to raise the quality of political discourse in our country. To have charity for one another. To actually discuss issues while searching for the best option, instead of simply shouting sound bites past one another.
I feel guilty for my past mistakes, and I am looking for friends on the other side of the isle who feel the same way. Are there any out there?
Uh ... it's just that this one good-guy-vs.-bad-guy, no-room-for-gray sound bite keeps coming to mind:
"If you're not with me, you're against me."
When you combine this statement with ones like "I'm the Decider", I don't see how it can be taken any other way.
Then again, Bush does have a problem of speaking without notes.
There are hundreds of examples where he has used some bizzare words and analogies.
(for example:
Putting food on the family)
I have found that while trying to feed my nine month old, I actually end up "putting food on the family," so I can understand the logic behind this utterance.
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