Posted on 12/18/2003 2:53:57 AM PST by ummark
Bush Fatigue With Saddam's capture, so collapses the will to resist
by Alan Bisbort - December 18, 2003
George W. Bush: the energy sap.
There comes a point when you've had enough. You just can't take another moment of thinking about it, feeling it in your gut and bones, forgetting it for a few moments only to find it waiting for you when you arrive at your destination. It is always sending reminders of its power over you. When you reach this point, as victims of abuse often note, you begin to weigh the only two scenarios that make sense: either flee, in hopes of saving yourself, your family and your sanity; or stay and submit, go along to get along. "It," for me, is the three-year-and-counting Bush Assault and the very real possibility, now that Saddam is in the bag, that "it" might continue for another five years. How much more of this can we take as a nation? Never mind that there will always be heated partisan disagreements in America; this assault is different. It's something we've never had to face: a usurpation of power and willful destruction of the very means by which we govern. A reader summed up his own similar breaking point: "It's such a show going on void of any honor or honesty. It seems to wound me daily and I have to force myself to think of other things."
I would like to think that the president has the power and the will to change directions, to reverse some of the extreme elements of his agenda, to heal the rifts that exist here in the United States. But past behavior indicates that this is not likely to happen. If anything, flush with the head of Saddam Hussein -- a despot who deserves to rot in Hell -- Bush and his inner circle will wield their power even more flagrantly, I fear.
The statement may be redundant, but America is a victim of abuse. It started with the tainted election of 2000 that left deep scars that nobody seems to want to admit are still with us. Then there was 9/11, a brutal blow to our very sense of being. And from then on, it has been day-in and day-out abuse of powers in Washington, D.C., powers that were earned only by dint of a vote of a partisan Supreme Court.
Americans know their government, such as it is now, is unresponsive to their needs. They know that we are up against a terrorist network that has worldwide tentacles, and yet the arrogance of power in Washington has isolated us from those very countries in the world with whom we share the most longstanding bonds. They know that the wealthiest few are getting the biggest tax breaks, the religious right has captured the social agenda, the airwaves are ruled by the corporate apologists. And they know this isn't right. But sheer exhaustion and helplessness have taken over. They go along to get along. The one question I hear wherever I go, from friends and well-meaning relatives is, "Yes, Alan, but what can you do?"
I reached my personal breaking point a few weeks back when Bush made a major photo op of signing the partial birth abortion bill into law. "This," his arrogant smirk seemed to say, "is unimpeachable proof of my belief in the sanctity of life."
Of course, during the same time period, 32 soldiers lost their lives in Iraq for what was said to be a search for weapons that posed an imminent threat to us and has ended with a pathetic, broken man found cowering in a hole. Some threat.
Language means nothing to an abuser; it's just words. Words are cheap, yet there is always the risk that they will reveal the truth. Bush's few attempts to use language have shown him to be everything from a liar (18 words about "yellow cake") in the State of the Union Address to a pro wrestler ("Bring 'em on").
I don't know why this particular outrage -- par for the course and not even as bad as most -- affected me so deeply. But it did, and I vowed that for the next two weeks I would not read about Bush, not cling to daily tonics from my reliable Internet sources, not even glance in the general direction of the New York Times on the kitchen table each morning for fear of seeing Bush's mug. I profligately bought CDs instead, immersing myself in Warren Zevon's last recording, soothing myself with Chet Baker and Keith Jarrett, recharging myself with Steppenwolf reissues. I guess I am a victim of Bush fatigue.
I realize Bush and his gang will never break out of the cycle of abuse. Capturing Saddam will only inflate them and probably ensure their election in 2004. They are like Morrissey's "Sweet and Tender Hooligan" who says he'll "never ever do it again ... of course he won't, ahhh, not until the next time."
I promise I'll never hit you again, America.
Of course they won't. Not until the next time.
Oh, yeah. Dow Jones blistering. Economy building up fresh momentum daily, like an avalanche in the Swiss Alps. Meaningful headway finally being made in the war against abortion, for the first time since the 1980s. Saddam Hussein humbled and brought low, and Israel (at long last) with a real, true friend in the White House.
Dreadful. Just dreadful.
... *snicker*... :)
"He" listens to Morrissey.
Kill "him." Kill "him" NOW. :)
Warren Zevon -- on discovering that his cancer was, indeed, terminal; and that he had only a short time left to live -- faced the trials that were his remaining handful of days with quite courage, and with an implacable, impressive dignity.
This sniveling little schoolgirl of a she-man, by way of direct comparison, is blubbering and whinnying in public because he's unhappy with who's in the White House, right now.
Ladies and gentlemen: the difference between liberals and conservatives, right there, in a nutshell. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.