If Bush Came to Your Neighborhood
john posted in politics & culture on October 25th, 2007
We’ve been having a few fires lately in Southern California. It happens. The apocalyptic smoky red skies make for some good writing ( see Didion et al). Like the fires, but lacking the drama, politicians also blow in for some photo ops.
photo by Ashlie at LAT
George Bush Tours Fires in Southern California seen in headlines from all over
photo by LAT
On hearing about the Bush tour, I thought: Oh great, first he threatens to send FEMA, and now he comes himself. Just what we need right now, a phalanx of Secret Service guys and the Presidential entourage clogging traffic and wasting the time of people who actually do something.
But then I got to daydreaming about what I’d say to Bush if he showed up in my neighborhood .
Would I shake his hand? Look him in the eye? Thank him for “low-cost loans for uninsured losses” and “debris removal” by the feds? What would I say in the one tiny moment when I could actually influence him?
What would you do?
If you had 30 seconds with George Bush what would you say to him?
Leave a comment.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
What I’d say, after NOT shaking his hand, follows:
Do you suppose we could chisel out a wee bit from the $2.4 trillion
estimated war costs for the next decade to help with infrastructure
improvements, scientific research, medical, educational, and other
social benefits for Americans? Or shall we remain of secondary
importance or worse, no importance, compared to your world conquest
plans?
October 25th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
How deep a breath am I allowed to take before I yell? How many words will I be allowed to speak before the Secret Service drags me off to Guantanamo? I guess I won’t have time for, “Remember Katrina, you warmongering moron, and notice how there’s no armed forces or national guard resources to help with this emergency because you spent it all in one hour paying Blackwater for murdering innocent people…!”
October 26th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Really, what’s to say to someone who’s so sure that his alternate reality is the true path? You could rant, sure, but so what…he’s heard it before, he’ll hear it again, and it never penetrates his wall of belief.
So, what would I say? I guess I would look him in the eye, just to see what’s in there; thank him for making the gesture of swinging by to check on the folks, but suggest that our national resources (including my jet fuel and bankbook that he’s burning) could be better spent; encourage him to get back to work and see if he can’t fix at least some of the things he’s buggered up over the last six years; ask him where we’re going to get the money to pay for the debts he’s run up on our account; and remind him that, like it or not, from both sides, he represents the many millions of us who do NOT sign on to his vision of things, and we’d appreciate it if he would start being the stand-up guy for us as well.