The Wit And Wisdom

As the campaign for 2008 kicks into high gear almost two years before the election, I want to offer some examples of why. The truth is that this nation can't have the current Presidency end fast enough, so we aren't any longer graced with statements like this:

George W. Bush, answering a question from ABC's Martha Raddatz about whether there's a civil war in Iraq: "It's hard for me, living in this beautiful White House, to give you a firsthand assessment. I haven't been there. You have. I haven't."

So the President, who actually has been to Iraq as recently as last June, and who never tires of telling his critics that he receives more intelligence about what's going on in Iraq than they do, decides to sidestep the question by claiming that the nice curtains in his house prevent him from understanding the ramifications of his own foreign policy. This from someone who is careful not to portray himself as out of touch with reality, basically admitting that he's out of touch with reality.

But then this statement blew me away, not so much for the statement itself but the rationale underpinning it:

During an interview conducted at the White House Library, Bush opined that it was "good not to have a vice president running for president." One reason cited by Bush for his relief was that he didn't have to deal with a candidate who might want to "distance himself" from presidential decisions on issues such as the war in Iraq [...]

"From my perspective, it is good not to have a vice president running for president," Bush continued. "Can you imagine somebody -- a vice president out there running and all of a sudden saying, 'Well, I wouldn't have done it exactly that way' or 'When things got difficult like they are in Iraq, I told the president that he should have done it this way.'"

For King George, it's good not to have a Vice President who would deviate in the slightest from his Dear Leader. That would hurt the morale of... the troops. Or embolden the enemy. Or something. Because the last thing we ever need in the United States is debate and discussion.

I don't think we've ever had a President as profoundly anti-American as this. Not anti-American in the sense of burning effigies, but in the sense of being completely antithetical to American ideals and values and principles. He has no idea what it means to be an American, and indeed no interest in it.