Mind set of a leader unaccountably pleased with his ignorance of the world

[bigtree]

What was revealed by that open mike

Robert Scheer
Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006

{snips}

BOMBS WERE exploding and innocents were dying, from Beirut to Haifa to Baghdad, and yet George W. Bush managed to pose for yet another photo-op, smiling as he gave the thumbs up at the close of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg. Thanks to an unsuspected open mike, however, we caught a glimpse of the mind set of a leader unaccountably pleased with his ignorance of the world.

Bush had started the exchange by noting, absurdly, that, "This is your neighborhood, doesn't take you long to get home." Uh, yeah, incurious George, sure thing. Never mind that St. Petersburg is in Europe, on Russia's northwestern corner, due north of Turkey, and Beijing is on the eastern edge of mainland Asia. "You, eight hours? Me, too. Russia's a big country and you're a big country," he said when corrected, sounding for all the world like an earnest kindergartner, processing new information. "Russia's big and so is China."

But should we be surprised at Bush's poor knowledge of the world he supposedly leads? After all, the blundering of the Bush administration has seriously undermined secular politics in the Mideast and boosted the religious zealots of groups such as Hezbollah to positions of pre-eminence throughout the region, from savagely violent Iraq to the beleaguered West Bank and Gaza Strip.

What is truly "ironic," however, is that the Bush administration, having overstretched our military and generated no foreign policy ideas beyond the willy-nilly "projection" of military force, has become a helpless bystander as the entire region threatens to burn.

full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/07/19/EDGOBIPV8B1.DTL

[babylonsister]

1. "sounding for all the world like an earnest kindergartner", THIS

is our 'leadership'? Mind-boggling.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. H.L. Mencken was right.

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken

[rodeodance]

3. I have always liked Robert Scheer's articles.

[madokie]

4. and once his base wakes the fuck up they will say they were duped

into believing in the boy king, but I know, i'm sure you know and kkkarl knows it will be too late by then. We are running out of time.

[Spazito]

5. Good read, thanks for posting n/t

[Dhalgren]

6. Take a long, loving look at the world, right now...

Things will never be this good again in our lifetimes...

[darkmaestro019]

7. Boy, that makes me want to open a vein. (sigh)

No, I know what you meant, but......sheesh......

[Dhalgren]

8. I know, I'm sorry.

But sometimes it is hard to keep up the front, you know? I am not always so doom and gloom - really, I can be quite funny at times. But those times are growing shorter and shorter and getting farther and farther apart..."Sheesh" is right... :hi:

[bigtree]

9. there is always room to improve

I think every generation tends to look at events as harbingers of 'end times', but, I think that kind of focus allows for apathy and inaction.

Plenty of time to change course . . . and to affect that change.