A Week of Firsts
It's been a week of firsts. Normally we'd say that the end of the world must be approaching, but there's been so much apocalyptic news lately we can't say that without feeling like the man holding a sign that says "the end is near".
In a single week, Frat Boy Dubya "accepted responsibility" not once, but twice, and then went on to admit there are poor black people in America to boot. This is quite mind-boggling. Forget for a moment that his acceptances of responsibility only came after three weeks of having his ass handed to him on a platter. And, let's forget that his staff had to make a specially edited video so he could "see first hand" a zillion poor black people starving in the streets. I'm sure their cries of help even spurred him into action - for a trip to the fridge for another beer.
We have to admit that last night's speech was well-written, as Bush speeches go. There were almost no references to hard work and not once did he mention that he's the "War President". He hit all the right notes, but failed to deliver any content. There's a difference between good and well-written.
He talked a lot about new programs, but uttered nary a peep about which turnip he'll squeeze to pay for them. He talked about free enterprise building a new and improved New Orleans - again presuming the tooth fairy will drop by to put $100 billion or so under his pillow. He said he saw no reason not to go forward with more planned tax cuts while telling us that our "successful" war in Iraq and other pet projects must continue. All in all it sounded more like helium escaping from a Mickey Mouse balloon than something of substance. Especially since even his allies in Congress are already balking at the plan.
But perhaps the biggest surprise of the speech was the Massa's sudden interest in racial equality and the eradication of poverty. That change in course as so abrupt we got a whiplash from seeing it.
This came from a man who has spent six years telling us that the gulf between the haves and have nots isn't really true - like global warming. He has supported every effort to scale back affirmative action or any other program to address discrimination that's come along. And the closest he ever gets to a black person is when he's asking Condi Rice if he can go to the pissoir.
Now some would say we might be a little hard on Mr. Mission Accomplished, but for us, actions speak louder than words and there are two actions that screamed loudly at us.
First, he has lifted the law requiring workers be paid the prevailing wage of the area . This is not exactly the move of a man suddenly concerned with the poor man's financial health, but quite in line with a man trying to lower the costs for firms like Halliburton, Fluor, and Bechtel as they move in for the kill. Second, he appointed the Turd Blossom to be his point man on the reconstruction effort. Other than his ability to smear people, we don't see that he has much to offer in the job. He isn't any more qualified for the job than Mike Brown was for FEMA director, but that's never mattered before, has it? We're guessing that on Uncle Karl's agenda, community reconstruction will place a sad second to Shrubco's image reconstruction.
So there, in a nutshell, it is. At the end of the day we're not left with anything approaching a solution. We are left with lots of platitudes designed to make us want to give him a good old noogie and forgive him. He desperately wants us to trust him, yet he has nothing but a long string of failures to trade for that trust.
While this week may have been filled with firsts, we fear that one of them won't be a President that can lead us out of the ditch he so readily drove us into.
Thanks George. We knew we could count on you.
Technorati Tags: katrina bush humor
Truth Told by Omnipotent Poobah, Friday, September 16, 2005
