I've been devouring non-fiction lately, probably because I've not been challenged by work or school. I think that reading non-fiction somehow keeps my brain alive, because I crave non-fiction. Any work of fiction I read right now I read quickly, so as to move onto the non-fiction. This is, of course, directly oppositional to how I normally read, which is to tear through non-fiction, so that I can get to the next work of fiction--genre or not. Anyway, this desire to read non-fiction extends to my magazine habits as well. S and I have a lot of magazine subscriptions to a diverse range of magazines, and two of those are Newsweek and Time (because why would you read one or the other?). Because of the non-fiction jones, I've been reading those magazines almost cover to cover--which is definitely not normal.
Anyway, if you're up on the news, you know that Newsweek this week has an account of Bush's response to Katrina that sort of characterizes him as ignorant, willfully so. I don't find it hard to believe; I also don't think it's a stretch to think that Bush's advisors don't want to give him bad news. It seems to very much fit with everything else about him that led to this. I'm not trying to be flip, but he's just NOT a great man (or leader, for that matter). It seems like we're such a long way removed from the times when men were great, or became great, due to the pressures of that office. I suspect that it is partly because the press impedes greatness by publishing every detail of everyone's lives, but I also think that it's more complicated than that.
I'm not suggesting, either, that Clinton was a great man. In fact, I can't think of a man that was great at the presidency, at least recently. I do think that Jimmy Carter is a great man, but he was a terrible president (at least if I'm accurately interpreting history). The thing is, I don't think that Bush is even close to that. I think he's a terrible president and a weak man. I think that he doesn't have a clue what empathy and understanding are. He's never been forced to be a better man--not by his wife, or his mother and father, and certainly not by himself. And sadly, he's raised daughters that seem to have his same disregard for humanity. I can't remember who I was talking to about this, but it's pretty telling to look at the Bush girls in contrast to Chelsea Clinton, you can learn a lot about the man running our country. It's hard to argue that Chelsea Clinton turned out badly; it's pretty easy to make the case that Jenna and Barbara Bush were looking for a good time, just like their daddy.
Nevertheless, the point is--did anyone really expect better from Bush, regarding Katrina? He has proven time and again that he doesn't have the capabilities to understand anyone besides his rich cronies, and yet people act surprised that he didn't seem to care (or want to care) about Katrina victims. Of course he didn't care--he gains nothing from caring. And I think that unfortunately for the American people, that's the kind of man George Bush is. He's not a great man, or a good man even. He's the coddled son of indifferent parents; husband to a woman who has had to deal with his antics for years, and the father to two girls who are chips off the old block. He's just smirking his way through life, because he knows someone somewhere will rescue him eventually.
I just hope that there's no rescue this time.
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