"Bring it on," Dubya said.
Whenever we see some tragedy on the news, there's the brief interviews with someone who was on the scene. Someone who goes on endlessly with the personal pronouns, "It could have been me" or "... and I was so startled ...". Someone who ignores the victims, and the efforts of those who tried to save the victims. The ones who actually experienced pain and loss and suffering.
And there's former President George W. Bush, who brings this egotistical perspective to a whole new level of narcissism. Or perhaps it's self-loathing.
Remember "Bring it on," Dubya said, and "Mission Accomplished". Well, forget all that, Dubya wishes we would.
It comes as no surprise that, after years of ignoring the traumatic impact of death and destruction and injury inflicted upon so many American families, that Dubya announces that he finally wants to work with veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Why?
Because it makes Dubya feel better.
See an example below the billowing clouds...
(CNN) —Asked whether President George W. Bush's work with veterans helps him cope with what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq -- two wars that started during his presidency -- the former president said there's "no question it helps."
"I have a duty," he continued in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC's "The Week." "Obviously, I get slightly emotional talking about our vets, because I have an emotional -- I'm in there with them.
"My spirit is always uplifted when I visit with vets," he added. "There's no self-pity. We've got a society that's incredibly comfortable and too many people saying, 'Oh, man, woe is me.' Not our veteran community. They don't say, 'Woe is me.' They say, 'What can I do to continue to serve?' "
Bush keeps a low profile but occasionally emerges in the spotlight, mostly to highlight veterans, whether that's through a public event or simply playing golf or going mountain biking with wounded veterans.
More than 50,000 U.S. and coalition forces have been wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq, and 8,211 have died.
Bush headlined an event last week drawing attention to a need to bridge what he called the "civilian-military divide."
It's "troubling" that 84% of veterans say the public isn't aware of the challenges they face and that 71% of Americans agree, Bush said, citing a survey by the Bush Institute and Syracuse University to be released this year.
Speaking at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas with second lady Jill Biden, Bush called on higher education institutions and employers to do more when it comes to educating and hiring veterans.
A "civilian-military divide"? Well, there's a poll by the Bush Institute, so it must be true, right?
See? The responsibility isn't on Dubya or anyone in his administration or anyone of their friends who profited from the war. It's not them. Neither Dubya nor Cheney, Rumsfeld, Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove, or any of those still in Congress who were accomplices to the initiating the atrocities and the pain they inflicted on so many.
Apparently, Dubya was designated the "Sin Eater". But he's "coping" and passed the plate to you.
According to Dubya, it's on YOU, the American people who created a "civilian-military divide" and aren't hiring these vets or providing them assistance. YOU don't understand these veterans, but Dubya does, 'cuz he's worked with them.
Somehow, that brings to mind the image of Dubya with former President Bill Clinton in Haiti, when Dubya shook hands with a local. Then wiped his hand on the back of Clinton's shirt.
Now, Dubya says he has a "duty"; apparently Dubya didn't think he had a duty when he sat in the Oval Office. Then again, when Dubya says he has a duty, he means you.