Have you ever had a boring guest long-overstay his welcome, perhaps after breaking several family heirlooms and spilling red wine on the rug? It's late, you have a really big day ahead, and you just want him gone. But he stands unmoving at the door, saying his goodbyes, and that leads to him telling another tall tale and then another. Oblivious to the late hour, oblivious to reality right in front of him as you weave dizzily, about to collapse. And he just goes on and on, talking about himself, how great he is. And all the while, the pounding in your head screams, "Just Leave Already!!!"
I think that's a little how most of America is feeling with the George Bush Interminable Farewell Tour.
Is he still there? Hasn't he moved back to Texas yet? Doesn't he have the decency to just go off already and pack? Or is George Bush still standing in the doorway, boorishly telling his hosts how great he is, after having broken their treasured possessions?
The opera comedienne Anna Russell went on a "farewell tour" that lasted about 20 years. At times, it seems like George Bush is making her look like a rank amateur.
(At least with Ms. Russell, she provided an evening of entertainment. Mr. Bush is causing ophthalmologists extra work from all the national eye-rolling.)
I have to admit, I didn't watch the most recent of soon-to-be-ex-President Bush's many "farewells" to the nation on Thursday. After eight years, I've seen enough. I get it. And most importantly, I'm not a total blithering idiot, and have been quite able to formulate my own opinion about how he's done in office. I'm guessing most people have, as well.
Plus, I just I didn't care.
What was he doing, for goodness sake? Hasn't he gone yet?
I did flip the channel for a few seconds, watching until he began one of those interminable stories where one, lone person is singled out because his life had something good happen to it. Swell. I'm glad. Now, let's hear about the other 302,999,999 million whose lives got turned inside-out.
I was able to catch up with this latest, desperate plea for salvation on the newscasts. And two passages stood out, both pretty much summarizing eight years of the Bush Administration and why 81% of the nation feels we have gotten "pretty much off-track."
The first came when Mr. Bush asked for credit for creating the Department of Homeland Security. What he left out is the reason it was created, that he ignored a Presidential Daily Briefing titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack U.S." and the U.S. got attacked by Bin Laden. And the public demanded a Department of Homeland Security. Claiming this as an achievement is like asking for praise that you bought a burglar alarm for your house - after you were told to lock all the doors, but forgot and the place got robbed.
The second quote, however, was the most egregious, to the point of pathetic. It was when he said that even if not everyone agreed with all the tough decisions he made, "At least we can all agree I made the tough decisions."
I'm sorry, you don't get brownie points for this!! That's the job. Making tough decisions. It's not called The Most Powerful Man in the World because it's easy. If he hadn't made "the tough decisions," that wouldn't have been the norm, that would have been an impeachable offense. (Sorry, I mean, another impeachable offense.)
Beside, the point isn't to make a tough decision. It's making the right decision. That's the reason we elect a president. Because we believe he will make better decisions than the other guy. Making a bonehead tough decision - time and again - doesn't impress anyone, or help you on your marvelous sucking up to history tour.
Hasn't he gone yet?
And so, George Bush tap-dances on, making his merry way trying to convince a nation that what they've observed and roundly rejected for eight years isn't so. There's a reason George Bush's approval rating has gone from 90 to is 22 percent in a CBS poll. It's why Republicans in Congress have gotten crushed in the last two elections, why Democrats won major majorities. And after all this blatant evidence, George Bush is trying to convince the public or history (that he scorns) or whatever, that, in fact, he's done a peachy job.
This is precisely that Neocon problem we've seen for eight years, the belief that you can ignore reality, and that you can make up your own reality. Tell America that in your reality, you did a great job. All the while real reality has us still trapped in a dismal war we were lied into, where no WMDs were ever found, where over 4,000 Americans and 100,000 Iraqis died, where the national economy is teetering on collapse, where we have a $1.2 trillion budget deficit and $10 trillion debt, where credibility in the Justice Department has been lost, and an American city was wiped off the map and on and on and on.
And on and on and on George Bush goes, still trying to convince a pummeled nation that you did a heckuva job.
Haven't you gone yet? The door is over there. Leave the lights on.