Over sodas and sparkling water, he asks his questions: What is the nature of good and evil in the post-Sept. 11 world? What lessons does history have for a president facing the turmoil I'm facing? How will history judge what we've done? Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America? Or is it just me they hate?
To this I would add "Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?"
When I read the above article, I was struck by the similarity between George Bush and his luminaries and William Lyon MacKenzie King who held seances to speak to his late mother and his dead dog: Neither of them were looking for true guidance, all they were looking for was reassurances that they were doing a good job. The difference is that MacKenzie King, however quirky, was an intelligent man and competent Prime Minister.
The article bounces back and forth at painting a picture of a man who is calm, serene and completely oblivious:
"You don't get any feeling of somebody crouching down in the bunker," said Irwin M. Stelzer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who was part of one group of scholars who met with Bush. "This is either extraordinary self-confidence or out of touch with reality. I can't tell you which."
I would suggest a third option: He is extraordinarily self confident because he is out of touch with reality. Of course George Bush is calm and serene, he lacks the intellect and imagination to even begin to understand the disaster he has wrought both at home and abroad. Any time I have ever seen Dubya on television, he always seems to have an expression that I can only describe as someone who knows that some very important is happening but when it comes to understanding it, has just missed the boat. In other words, George has the tranquility to which only the truly stupid can aspire.
The article goes on and on, in a jaw dropping attempt to present Bush as a "spiritual, thoughtful man" and the facts just are not in evidence. George, over the years, has such a great deal out of being "anti intellectual" that article just does not ring true. Instead, perhaps unintentionally, it paints a picture of a man who has pretty much isolated himself, surrounded himself with "yes men" and fears to step beyond his little circle for fear that reality will leap up and sink its fangs into his ass.
I don't know about you, but this, perhaps, is the most frightening of all:
Much of the discussion focused on the nature of good and evil, a perennial theme for Bush, who casts the struggle against Islamic extremists in black-and-white terms. Michael Novak, a theologian who participated, said it was clear that Bush weathers his difficulties because he sees himself as doing the Lord's work.
Well, Well, George sees himself as doing the lord's work. It must also be pointed out that so do the suicide bombers.
