Ladies and Gentlemen: The Real George W. Bush
By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real
Posted on October 27, 2005, Printed on October 29, 2005
For three more years America is going to be led by not just a lame duck
president, but a totally discredited president.
In a _poll_ (http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/25/cia.leak/) conducted
Oct 21-23 and released on Tuesday, 90 percent of those asked said they believed
top Bush administration officials are guilty of either illegal or unethical
behavior in the CIA leak case.
So where does that leave an un-indicted George W. Bush? There really are only
two explanations, and neither reflect well on him. First, he can claim his
closest aides conspired behind his back while he was otherwise occupied. I
call that the "Exxon Valdez Defense" -- the captain was not at the helm when a
careless crewman ran the ship of state aground. Unfortunately for Captain
Bush, that defense did not wash for the real captain of the ill-fated tanker.
Because, you see, the captain is always responsible.
The other explanation is worse: that the President of the United States knew
what was going on, maybe even participated in it.
Either way, Bush is finished as a force in American politics. How he ever got
to become president in the first place -- not once, but twice -- will remain
a subject social scientists will study and debate for decades to come.
Because there was plenty of evidence that George W. Bush was a made man. He had
accomplished nothing in his adult life on his own -- not one thing. (_Click
here_ (http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1992/09/bushboys.html) for
more.)
Of course, for those of us who have covered the Bush family for years, it's
no mystery at all. The best way to think of George W. Bush is as a beard for
others. At every step in his career, individuals of wealth or power groomed
him, and then used him as their front man.
These benefactors had learned long ago that there was more money and more
power to be had in the shadows than in the limelight. All they needed was the
right person to front for them -- someone with a name, a smile, a confident
swagger. Vision, dreams, hopes and ethics were not only unnecessary, but
liabilities in a beard. All they needed was a person they could program, wind up
and send out into the public spotlight and deliver for them.
That's George W. Bush. He fit the bill to a T. Texas oil men -- and companies
with international agendas and voracious appetites for government contracts
-- had found their perfect front man in GW: a kind of Forrest Gump from the
Dark Side. A man ignorant and proud of it, and willing to take direction from
those he considered friends.
They began by nurturing Bush's pathetic efforts to become a high-rolling
Texas oil man. Though his companies failed, they made sure he never did. Then
they were able to further his ascendancy by indulging his playful side, buying
him his own baseball team -- a Texas baseball team. That raised Bush's public
profile to just a notch below their ultimate goal: public office.
Fully groomed and programmed, they finally steered Bush towards the goal.
And it worked, probably beyond their wildest expectations. As governor of
Texas, their beard kept state regulators out of their hair on dollar and cents
issues critical to the oil drilling and processing industries, like air quality.
That alone would have been sufficient payoff for their years of cleaning up
Bush's business messes.
Bagging the United States presidency was an unexpected super-bonus. Still,
they knew it was a development ripe with as much danger as opportunity. After
all, they knew the real George W. Bush. There was no way they could send that
hayseed off to the Big Show unattended. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove were tasked
with keeping their idiot prince both on message and on a short leash. God
forbid he should ever make a speech, take a position, or make a decision on his
own.
All went very well for the first four years. From day one, their boy
delivered, delivered and delivered again. He was a gift that just kept giving:
* $1.6 trillion in tax cuts, the bulk of which went to people like
them;
* Environmental laws watered down; expanded logging allowed in national
forests
* A push to open protected Alaska wilderness to oil and gas drilling;
* Iraqi oil fields suddenly within reach;
* Plenty of cheap labor flooding across our southern border.
And just as it looked as if he was on the way to fulfilling another
assignment -- the elimination of the estate tax -- his beard fell off. It was the
thing they had always feared most: the real George W. Bush went public. There it
was, for the whole world to see: a chuckling, twitching dope of man standing
in front of the American people, unleashed and unscripted. Worse yet, he was
making his own decisions. He chose his friend and admirer, Harriet Miers,
for the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
What went wrong? Where were his handlers? Busy. They dropped Bush's leash
when handed subpoenas. Junior was unleashed and home alone.
It's a moment new to America -- a leader who needs to be led, and now unled.
And the world is watching. It's as if the police had come and dragged Edgar
Bergin offstage in the middle of a show, leaving Charlie McCarthy, wide-eyed,
mouth agape and slumped alone on his stool.
So, what now?
http://www.alternet.org/story/27385/