George W Bush and his wife, Laura, are scarcely in the “best actor” league. It’s probably just as well. The script they’ve been using for the past eight years hardly merits Hollywood status. As this ill-staged farce known as the “Bush Presidency” enters its final act, both the leading lady and her partner continue to believe their performances merit an Oscar.
Unfortunately for them, the audience is not in sympathy.
Yesterday, on the “Today” show, Laura Bush, wife of the president, told presenter Ann Curry that the American people need to know…….
“……. no one suffers more than their President and I do.”
It hardly bears mentioning, of course, that such a statement is both inaccurate and hypocritical in the extreme. Which particular definition this woman was referring to by her use of the word, “suffers”, can only be guessed at.
Webster’s gives three definitions for the word: “suffering”:
1. to endure death, pain, or distress
2. to sustain loss or damage
3. to be subject to disability or handicap.
To our knowledge, neither the president nor his wife, are disabled or handicapped – at least, not physically; neither have they sustained personal loss or damage, or endured death or pain. If either feels distressed by the course this presidency has taken, they cover it exceptionally well. Only yesterday, both were televised dancing happily with a number of African Americans.
The line was, quite simply, a deliberate attempt to display a vestige of humanity to a disillusioned electorate preparing to dump this White House in the garbage can of history; an act long overdue, in this writer’s humble opinion. If George Bush and his wife are suffering at all right now, it is from low support figures and the effort of lying bare-facedly to the world about the situation in Iraq.
Which presents another aspect most Americans will fail to consider.
Laura Bush may be attempting to present the face of a humanitarian White House to the American people, but they represent only a small minority of the rest of the world effected by the policies of her husband and his disreputable administration. It is easy for America to forget that all the action rapidly coming home to roost in George Bush’s nest, is presently taking place outside of the U.S of A.
War has a singular ability to create political fractures all over the planet. It’s the reason we end up with “World Wars”. When one nation attacks another, others are immediately drawn into the fray, taking sides and arming against their neighbors.
Since March 2003, there have been numerous outbursts of violence among nations throughout the world. The number of petty wars and skirmishes has risen sharply. It is particularly noticeable among religious groups, mainly Christian and Muslim.
While some may argue the world has never known a time without a war somewhere, the degree of unrest among peoples of our planet has risen alarmingly over the last few years, blurred only out of focus by the major conflagrations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
When Laura Bush bleats to the American people about her and her husband’s “suffering”, she may do well to remember that George Bush’s policies over the last eight years have resulted, not just in the decimation of a major Middle East nation, but in the deaths and suffering of millions around the world drawn into petty conflicts resulting from his abuse of power in the Middle East.
On their behalf, Mrs Bush, Sparrow Chat says simply this:
Neither you, nor your husband, have an inkling of suffering. You have both lived a privileged and protected life, at all times ensuring you personally are well defended against the tribulations and anguishes you have inflicted on others, born less fortunate than yourselves. Your attempt yesterday to appear “one of us” in this terror you have wreaked upon the planet, no longer raises applause from your audience. The play is almost over, Mrs Bush. The curtain is already descending. You and your husband may believe you deserve a standing ovation, but when the houselights rise you will find yourselves bowing to an empty auditorium. There will be no bouquets; no cheers, no appreciative wolf-whistles.
The audience will already have left the theater.
Filed under: Don’t call us