I’ve finally taken notice of a very important and dynamic trend with regard to President Bush.
The pattern has been present all along; it’s taken this long for me to identify and be cognizant of its presence.
Now, if only we can convince others of the presence and then the strength and need to recognize and act on this trend.
And that is this: if one much cares (and it is important, sadly), the poll numbers for President Bush go up when one or more of the following occur:
President Bush becomes angry;
He becomes strident;
He becomes publicly vocal;
He becomes emotive;
He speaks from the heart and from conviction;
When President Bush FIGHTS BACK.
BZ
Sure wish he would fight back a lot more … 🙁 .. that’s why I started liking him to begin with. He stood up and said stick it. Guess the jury is still out on how it ends.
You’re right, BZ. We want him to be mad. In fact, we want him to be exactly who he was after 9/11. He sure did get mad about the leak, didn’t he? Maybe he will begin to understand we need to hear this from him. One can hope, can’t one? I’m sure he’s aware of the polls.
We must all admit; he is no communicator and for whatever reasons seems to think he doensn’t have to play the Propaganda War. But he does! And he MUST! Silence is a killer and he cannot AFFORD to be silent!
People WANT to hear from him; people want to HEAR him DEFEND his stance and become ANGRY at those who attempt to denigrate our country, eviscerate our soul, kill our soldiers, leak our secrets.
Then people want to see him ACT.
BZ
President Bush does stick to his word, which is a good thing of itself as it lets one know where he stands. However, he also tries to give appearance of not taking umbrage to things and ‘turns the other cheek’ and then has little recourse left when that one is assaulted, also. And when that is done, because he has said a stand, but not forthrightly and has given appearance to not hold what he said deeply in his application of it for all those *due considerations* he becomes less strong and able to do what needs be done.
And that is for the things that one *agrees* with him upon his rhetoric. I have no doubt that he will do his best to carry on towards the beginnings of a successful end in Afghanistan and Iraq, but because those are multi-decade projects that are part of a greater whole he has NOT stated, they are seen as isolated things and unconnected. By not clearly stating what he is trying to achieve in concrete terms and espousing a Foreign Policy to back them, he is left awash in a sea of meaninglessness and unable to chart a true course.
And for those things one does *not* agree with him, such as a ‘comprehensive immigration policy’ and ‘a path to citizenship for illegals’ one must take deep pause and ask: Why should the Republic *reward* illegal behavior?
Or when the Congress indicates that it has full protection from all investigation in its offices and the President bends to this for a ‘cooling off period’, again one must pause and ask: Why does the President give appearance of supporting something that goes *against* the Constitution he has sworn to uphold?
By much incoherence and not asserting his conceptions or even speaking them outright and fully, President Bush does us grave disservice in not telling us how he is charting a course for this Nation. He has had long days and weeks and months and years now to do so, and it is *still* not done.
He must proceed to anger and final resolve after giving all of his opponents firm belief that he will not do so and has given them reason and ammunition with which to assail him because of previous lack of response.
So even in good and noble actions, by the time this President actually needs must rise to the occassion to get any sort of finality, he has allowed the problems to grow and fester and multiply and what could have been done easily and sharply at the beginning now requires a full campaign and assault to even make *headway*. Success could have been more easily bought and paid for with a sharpness of will, resolve and tongue used from that Bully Pulpit of the Executive.
I personally like and admire the MAN, but as President his failings are manifest.
By not doing these things he has given cause to Congress to embolden itself in over-reaching its power and privileges and also that same to the Supreme Court. By not forcefully being the Executive and exercising his powers we have given unto him via the compact for governance, he has put those powers and their use at peril.
As Head of State of all things with Foreign Nations he has not stated the broad goals and objectives of his Administration, nor put in place policy to implement them, nor make means available to forcefully assert them as good and right things to do to protect the Nation.
As Head of Government he has not exercised his veto to stop bills that move against the rights of the People, and in actually signing such, even with knowledge that they will not hold, erodes the perception that We the People have such rights to Us to use Lawfully and not have restricted. Further he has threatened veto against some things, but over-spending, misappropriations of funds and outright neglect of how such funds are used does us no great service. To be in this job also requires the forceful application of the Laws of the Land upon all Citizens and All States, and he has not done so on security policy, immigration policy, foreign policy and a host of minor matters as actually holding the bureaucracy accountable for its actions.
He has done pretty well as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces for overseas and Intelligence work. He has not held the Pentagon accountable for its rigidity in responsiveness for fluidity of events nor brought to task those that have not implemented things to do so. Reforming the military to get it into the 21st century goes beyond mere equipment and training of the troops, and requires a thorough overhaul of the entire command structure to make it flexible and capable. This he has not done. Our finest and most capable soldiers ever fielded by any Nation at any Time on this planet are put in peril by the sluggish capabilities of the overlying structure to actually *support* them and ensure that gains made are *secured* promptly.
And as the Chief Executive of the Nation, he has done little to ensure that the Union, itself, is secured. For all the good things he has done, that is the first and foremost duty of the entire Federal Government as made and outlined in 1787. Aided and abetted by a Congress that has its own goals in mind, the entire National Security has been in a holding pattern of 9/10 for fatal years. Even with National Guard it is *still* not at a 9/11 need and never has been since that fateful day. And we are all in peril because of that and his wish, now, to no longer enforce the laws that have been broken by illegals, municipalities and Citizens.
Again, I do like the MAN as good and kindly and more than somewhat thoughtful. He beats the hell out of his opponents and most peers. And that, to me, is worrying in the extreme. No one is stepping forward to *help* the Nation and keep it whole by saying what needs be done. And those that *do* have some *plan* are ones that will see this Nation ended by those plans and the beacon of liberty shut down and dismantled once and for all.
To be a President he must overcome who he is as a Man and put aside some personal beliefs for the good of the Nation so he may keep his Oath and protect us All in that doing. He has not found it within himself to do so, and so fails the Nation in that flaw.
When that iceberg is spotted he tries to veer away so as to have an undamaged ship, so the paint job, even, is not scratched. And then the deadly sound of the keel being ripped asunder lets all know that the ship, itself, is doomed by those that attempt to save it. The ship that was constructed to withstand and survive the full-on impact finds itself not built to lose its keel and bottom of its hull. As with the Titanic so it is with the Ship of State.