Monday, July 02, 2007
Uneasy summer for G.W. Bush
The paragraph that sticks out in Peter Baker's report in the Post is that the president is "fixated on Iraq". Since he, more than anyone else, is responsible for creating the bloody mess he ought to be concerned about it. According to iCasualties.org, the death toll for American soldiers (101) in June was mercifully less than the numbers for May and April. The president's fixation comes with tunnel vision -- he was right, he is right, and he will continue with his war until the end of his presidency.
Bush is fixated on Iraq, according to friends and advisers. One former aide went to see him recently to discuss various matters, only to find Bush turning the conversation back to Iraq again and again. He recognizes that his presidency hinges on whether Iraq can be turned around in 18 months. "Nothing matters except the war," said one person close to Bush. "That's all that matters. The whole thing rides on that." And yet Bush does not come across like a man lamenting his plight. In public and in private, according to intimates, he exhibits an inexorable upbeat energy that defies the political storms. Even when he convenes philosophical discussions with scholars, he avoids second-guessing his actions. He still acts as if he were master of the universe, even if the rest of Washington no longer sees him that way. |
Soon the president will take off for his vacation. No doubt his aides are putting together the tomes that he will take with him for reading in Crawford. No light reading for our intellectual president. He has hidden depths. The summer reading list of G.W. Bush never fails to amuse.
