Hijacking America

Yeah, I suppose the title is a little incendiary. Oh well. It has a nice ring to it, anyway.

I'm not normally one to get engaged with politics. Being an extremely detached person, I never really paid it much mind for most of my life. Yeah, I vaguely remember President Ronald Reagan, and seeing something about the Berlin Wall coming down on the nightly news, then later having my social-studies teacher tell us about the fall of the Soviet Union. I have hazy recollections about a shrill Texan named Ross Perot and the three-way presidential campaign. In high school, I laughed with everyone else about Bill Clinton's wandering hands. I lived my childhood about three levels deep inside of my own head, and all these reality-based stories didn't particularly pique my interest too much.

As far as my own opinions about political matters as an adult, I've basically always just shrugged my shoulders and said, "Fuck it. Whatever, man," possibly while under the influence of some illicit substance or other.

President Bush's tenure obviously had a significant impact on me, of course. I'm not someone who believes Bush is an Evil Man or that he's a blithering imbecile. My main criticism of President Bush would be of how utterly fucking horribly he fumbled the ball when it came to his response to the September 11th attacks in 2001. I distinctly recall the attacks occurring while I was a sophomore in college. (I also remember my roommate from Belize telling me repeatedly that there were people in Palestine cheering in the streets, trying to goad an angry reaction out of me, I presume. He seemed to have trouble believing my reaction of basically shrugging and laughing it off.)

Remember that three to four-month period right after the attacks when people all across the country were purchasing miniature American flags and proudly attaching them to their cars? The hum of national unity was in the air, and this occurred less than a year after the polarizing 2000 election fiasco.

We're all in this together, for better or worse

President Bush had an opportunity to provide a positive vision for this country's future and help drive the nation toward it. His approval rating was around 85%. 85 fucking percent! Americans were ready to hear some big ideas. We needed leadership. Unfortunately for us, George W. Bush was our leader when we most needed capable leadership.

To put it metaphorically, imagine a scene where the entire population of America is standing in a huge, grassy field, and in the distance you can see the billowing clouds of smoke from some tragic catastrophe. It's just before dawn, and the scent of dewy grass fills the air. In the center of this huge throng is George W. Bush, holding a megaphone. Everyone is looking at this man. People are craning their necks over the rows of people in front of them to catch a glimpse of him and hear what he has to say about what we should do.

Bush clicks the megaphone on and says, in a gruff, serious voice, "My fellow Americans, follow me," and begins walking.

Everyone can see the sun beginning to peek over the hill in the distance, yet this man is walking toward the sunken entrance to a cave. As we approach the cave, screams and cries can be heard. Explosions and gunfire and the sound of blades tearing flesh echo through the cave as we get closer. There is a standing pool of blood that's slowly oozing beyond the cave's opening.

"Let's go," Bush declares, his eyes never losing their stern stare.

He steps to the side and begins leading people inside the cave. There are some murmurs at the back of the crowd, some looking over at the sunrise over the hill and shaking their heads, as the mass of people gets siphoned into the dark cavern.

One thing I won't do here is make Bush into some buck-toothed, gun-waving caricature who simultaneously can't tie his own shoes and is masterminding some 12-dimensional conspiracy involving oil companies and war-machine manufacturers and Middle East investors. He was a man -- a man who made extremely shortsighted mistakes that could possibly have been the straw that broke the camel's back as far as America's superpower status goes. He was put in a historic spot where he could have shaped the future of America in profound and positive ways. Instead, he chose the "You're either with me or against me" and "Yeah, two simultaneous land wars is in the United States' interest" route.

What a wasted opportunity.

In the United States, the executive branch doesn't have a tremendous amount of power, other than the bully pulpit. Bush had a bully pulpit the size of an aircraft carrier, and he chose to use it unwisely, possibly even disastrously.

As a born not-leader (and a coward and so on), I appreciate and respect good leadership, even if I don't always follow it. If only that leadership had been available during that critical time, perhaps my country's future wouldn't be looking more and more like a perilous place.