George Bush's Fun

I am still mulling over George W. Bush's phone call to Barack Obama after his election when Bush suggested to the president-elect that he have "fun' and enjoy himself now that he's the new chief executive.

Why would he chose the word "fun"? Indeed, what person, much less a president himself, in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, says to his successor go out and have "fun."

Then I figured that's what the former Yale cheerleader thought the presidency was all about -- another fraternity experience. One can just guess what Bush will say to Obama when they meet in the White House on Monday. "Hey, kid, here's my work-out room, here's where I watch TV and eat pretzels, here's the place where my Texas pals and I get together and have some beers, here's where I get dressed and brush my teeth, here's where I eat breakfast and read the sports pages -- and oh that, by the way, yes, that's the Oval Office."

Comments

[dakotaharp]

buh bye w.

[limerica]

Check out this brand new, funny video about the end of the Bush administration. Very funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcxIUZvwiXU

[Chaucea]

Well certainly it was "fun" for W, cuz he certainly didn't take any of it seriously...

[STG 44]

Pres. Bush seems like more of a fun guy than Obama. He's learned not to take life too seriously.

[dadw5boys]

Yeah he takes nothing serious except money.

Obama thinks a little differently.

Fun is not watching people starve or die over oil !

[ryanpage]

bush, a fun guy? ah yes, he's a clown!!

[eden4barack08]

I don't believe he let a few things like wars and economy get in the way of his fun.
He will be missed....NOT!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/3274186/George-W-Bush-in-pictures.html

[sandrarita]

Bush is only being Bush. The fact that he was president for eight years is a reflection on the American people that put him in office, obviously half -witted themselves.

[kylennblack]

The conversation as I imagined it:

Bush: Heh, heh, heh, have fun! Enjoy yourself!
Obama: I don't have time to have fun. I have work to do. *click*

[PatrickforO]

I heard Bush was briefed using a comic book format.

[zanzig]

I think it was more along the lines of "This is Dick. See Dick run"

[jsarets]

See Dick run the government while George takes a nap.

[HalBrown]

My own (professional) diagnosis of Bush was that he has many of the characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder. So simply put, he probably meant exactly what he said. Bush had fun because he finally achieved the narcissist's dream of being the most powerful person in the world. Not the most beloved of course, but narcissists use denial a great deal.

He can't imagine any other president not being like he is and no matter whether the sky is falling on the country or the bottom falling out of the economy he's still the decider, the Commander-in-Chief, the one everyone calls Mister President, and the guy who has a 747 of his very own.

[jsarets]

He has TWO identical 747s at his beck and call. Just in case.

[Toonadude]

Maybe Dick "Shadow President" Cheney would like to offer his view on the issue of "fun."

[allonfla]

I think Bush was being sarcastic. He meant it with a wink and an elbow to the side.

[Samalabear]

I don't know. I don't think he was being sarcastic. I agree with the narcissistic personality disorder. He really meant this. I'm sure most of the time Bush got a real kick out of being President. Gee, and here I was thinking just the opposite -- not a fun time at all to be president -- damn scary -- way too many fires to put out with still a lot of unknowns. Won't be that much opportunity for fun.

[daedelus]

Sarcasm is beyond Bush's intellectual range.

[bedrocklib]

Check out Vincent Bugliosi's book about prosecuting George Bush for Murder. He lays out the case very thoroughly.
One of the many things he mentions about why he wrote this book is how George Bush has bragged about having the time of his life as president.
No worries about Soldiers dying in an illegal invasion and occupation of another country.
No problem with torture. (Just don't use that word.)
New Orleans, so what?
Economic problems, they'll work out through the free market.
Medical insurance is no problem for the administration or anyone they know, so what's the big deal?
And on and on and on.
I'm sure he has been and will continue to have the time of his life, unless and until there are consequences for his criminal actions.

[JPHR]

Spot on. I read that book too. Look at those photos in the middle. A stark contrast between Bush having "fun" and reality. At the very least the US needs a Truth & Reconciliation commission. That is probably the only way to prevent a repeat and get the truth in full daylight. But remember it took quite drastic actions of the 9/11 widows to get a commission. The democrats also have a lot of other matters on their plate already. Of course such investigation will be described a partisan too. However the most important may be the US pride, which seems to consider it inconceivable to prosecute a president?
So as Victor Bugliosi already feared Bush will probably be able to continue his privileged life.

[fightorleave2]

All I can say is that I am ghastly worried about the direction Obama has decided to go in the past few days and he isn't even officially in office. Because so far is it as if Clinton and the DLC won, instead of the millions who rejected a 3rd Clinton term.

According to Rahm Emmanuel, Obama got elected to enact SChip legislation and increase money for stem cell research. You've got to be kidding. This should disturb every Obama voter. I also noticed ominous overtones to Obama's message the last few days before the election as it seems Obama isn't promising the present generation anything. Rather, all his statements refer to the future or the children. He should be concerned with right now. If he doesn't know what he should be doing, then here is a suggestion stop claiming to be a pragmatist, realist or moderate, but a liberal progressive who is ready to end the wars, prosecute the Bush Administration, eliminate health insurance companies (at least for profit insurance) and recoup the billions that have been stolen from the US Treasury (i.e. all recipients of US money during the Bush Administration). That is what America voted for.

[tc399]

You heard right. That's exactly what he was elected to do, and fix the economy, and stop fighting unwinnable wars.

[TomTheAlmostUgly]

Have you missed the part about "Obama will inherit a crisis"? (Several crisES, actually.) He's still finding out how bad things are, and maybe guessing out loud what the solutions are. What that also means is that not everything he promised, will be done first.

A president is not a waiter, he's a leader. You tell a WAITER, "I expect you to bring me a Big Burger, curly fries, and a medium cherry coke, and I expect you to do all that quickly." You tell a LEADER, "I trust you to set priorities and to make hard decisions that I, frankly, cannot."

Obama is acting like an adult. After eight years, we've forgotten what a president who acts like an adult is like. It doesn't help that after eight years of rancid Republican rule, the country is ****ed up.

[texanna]

Umm, the only problem is that's not what he ever said he'd do. In fact, when the FISA flap was on-going he specifically said that he wasn't responsible for what liberals and/or progressives might project onto him. So, while you may have voted for a liberal progressive agenda, that's not exactly what you were promised. Mr. Obama's health insurance plan was never a universal coverage plan, much less a single-payer plan. As far as the Bushies' crimes go, he's only said that he would encourage investigations and if wrongdoing were found, then they would be dealt with. And, while he is going to get us out of Iraq, his plan is not to call the game and just go home. Look on the bright side, though, just about anything Obama does will be 100% better than anything McSame might've done.

[realpolitic]

I thought the same thing as the author. When Obama recently said he was going to have some "substantive" talks with Bush, I thought to Obama that meant talking foreign policy and about the economy. While to Bush, it probably means showing Obama where the popcorn machine is and where to lock his mountain bike. Bush has always viewed the presidency as a vehicle for fun. Nothing interrupted his mountain bike sessions or his vacations. Too bad the American people did not join in the fun and we are left with the consequences.

[mjc]

Think Bush's comment to Obama was probably his usual inarticulate self trying to give the impression that his two terms as president hadn't laid any worry or distress on himself, that he was so competent that the years had not caused him any self-doubt; period. Bush has this persona that he is just a nice, folksy, hail-fello­w-well-met­, not bothered with any terrible issues or personal vendettas. No doubt he has been carrying that front around for years and believes it. He can look out over an American landscape that suddenly lost 3,000 of its citizens in a terrorist undertaking that his administration might have help to prevent, see a major American city drowning, the population of which had to wait many days for help from the federal government, and now an economic crisis of such magnitude that no one really has a confident answer for how to solve it and unemployment rates rising. Bush will take no responsibility within himself for any of these disasters. All we can hope for is that the world will not see this in a President Obama, now that that sort of behavior has been revealed.

[realpolitic]

Have you ever heard Bush say anything but the very obvious? When he meets a foreign leader he calls him a "good leader" who is "working hard" or some nonsense. Bush never once explained anything in detail in some stream of consciousness way or like he had an easy familarity with the subject. He simply says something is "good" or "bad" and that is about it. It has been a very, strange surreal eight years. Now we have an adult in the oval office again, thankfully.