Prez in the Plastic Bubble

You have probably guessed that our current POTUS was not my first choice. I have always thought that we needed a guy in charge that went out of his way to learn about situations before figuring out what to do. A guy who valued book learning and hard work and experience. Nevertheless, the choice was out of my hands. And I respect that. The family elders explained that really I was mistaken, that this guy was connected to everything going on around him. He was a CEO and ran things with business-like efficiency.

Turns out they were wrong and I was right. Turns out POTUS has been disconnected to the world around us, surrounding himself with yes men that are afraid to tick him off. He is the Pres in the Plastic Bubble.

Newsweek's article, How Bush Blew It is astounding in that hits on the very worst of my previous fears. It shows a White House staff that is so afraid of displeasing their man that don't want to interrupt his 5 week vacation to tell him how bad this situation was in New Orleans. They held conference calls and from the sounds of it drew straws to see which sucker had to tell the Prez. To clue him to the damage that had been done, they made him a DVD of news reports for him to watch on Air Force One. Cripes! The guy didn't read a newspaper or watch the news? No one on the ranch mentioned it either?

According to Newsweek, the Prez, "He prides himself in ignoring the distracting chatter, the caterwauling of the media elites, the Washington political buzz machine. He has boasted that he doesn't read the papers." that "it is not clear what President Bush does read or watch, aside from the occasional biography and an hour or two of ESPN here and there". Well that is REASSURING. The leader of the free world takes 5 weeks off from the WORLD!

This would be fine, I suppose if the people that he appointed were capable of either making a move without him or clueing him in, but that doesn't seem to be the case either. According to reports, "Warm and hearty in public, Bush can be cold and snappish in private, and aides sometimes cringe before the displeasure of the president of the United States". That he "can be petulant about dissent," which, he equates with disloyalty". So the message is, you want to stick around, you better agree with him. WOW! No devil's advocate or alternative opinions allowed.

Orignal thinking requires that you are allowed to DISAGREE occassionally. Maybe even be wrong.

This is the environment created by the guy who is supposed to make me safer in this dangerous world of ours? It makes me feel that alot of the inconveniences that we have all learned to suffer through post-9/11 are equally useless. Like the 4 years I have spent getting felt up everytime I go through the metal detector because my non-underwire bra sets them off because my bra has 4 sets of hooks and eyes instead of the standard 1 or 2. Watching elderly men and women and war heroes being given closer scrutiny because of their infirmities. Listening to rude TSA agents scream at travellers in airports (LaGuarding being the worst) and at border crossings. I used to go to Canada without a passport. Hell, I went to Canada on dates in highschool! I took less heat from my parents then the bitch who questioned me coming back from Windsor, Ontario into Detroit.

Now I have to question whether my initial assertion that these moves WERE all smoke and mirrors. That someone on an airplane could hurt me with a metal fork and a plastic knife if they REALLY wanted to do me an injury. That a person who checks out the Anarchist's Cookbook in the library is about 1,000 times more likely to be a smart assed teenager and not a potential terrorist. A terrorist would be more subtle, more clever about covering their trails. So it's pointless to give the government access to our library records too. We aren't even allowed to question the rights being taken away from us without being told that we are unpatriotic and labelled terrorist sympathizers.

And why? On the word of guy who didn't bother to turn on the news or the Weather Channel for FIVE FREAKING WEEKS. Who couldn't guess that de-funding flood protection for a city that is largely below sea level might be a bad idea given that a stronger than usual hurricane season was predicted. A guy who thought that de-funding wetlands protection was a good idea even though these lands traditionally absorb the energy set loose during a hurricane. A guy who doesn't believe in science unless it serves his ideology.

Luckily, today he is taking responsibility for the trouble. HE CAUSED ONE OF THE OLDEST CITIES IN OUR COUNTRY TO SINK INTO THE SEA. Gee, mighty white of you for owning up that mistakes were made.

I won't be sleeping well tonight knowing that Bubble Prez is in charge.