" Now that I've got the will of the people, I'll be enforcing a one question rule."
"Obviously, you didn't listen to the will of the people. I said ONE question
."
--President Bush, to journalists in a press conference today
At a press conference today, President Bush made it clear he would not tolerate too many mind-boggling questions at one time since he now has a mandate. Is he using a mandate to silence the press and legitimize his disdain for them?
Thus began the new Bush presidency. The one where, this time, gawl dang it, he has the will of the people ( a fraction of a majority more than the record-setting millions who voted against him). Almost half the nation can go screw themselves. That's what I heard today.
For Democrats looking for an outstretched hand, President Bush gave horrifying answers today. When asked how he planned to unite America, he said he would expect Democrats to participate in promoting his agenda. When pressed on the question of how he'd unify America through his relationship with Congress, he referred to the "No Child Left Behind Act", the one in which he hoodwinked Ted Kennedy. Choosing to hoodwink a dead man's memory this time, he's invoking the name of Daniel Patrick Moynihan in order to look like a bipartisan leader. I wish Moynihan were here to defend himself. I'd imagine he'd be spinning in his grave like chicken rotisserie if he knew Bush was using him in this particular way. Bush said he thinks Democrats agree that they have a responsibility to govern and expects they will have "good will" from here on in. I hope he doesn't forget who has the majority to 'stick it' to the nation with the ease of rightwing disdain.
President Bush wonders why Washington D.C .is bitter. He still wonders that, after four years? Is he daft? Is he that much of an overly sensitive boob? Does he not understand that he has had a direct effect on the DC mood and environment?
When asked about future judicial nominations, he recommended that we should look at his past. Oye, we're in trouble.
He skirted the Evangelical Christian-pandering question by replying that he didn't expect us to agree with his religion and that we were free to worship as we please in America. It didn't answer why he was politically sniffing up the ass of the Pat Roberston crowd.
He has made no decisions on Cabinet changes. The puppet usually doesn't choose his puppet-masters - it's generally the other way around - so I'm not surprised.
He danced the turn-around on his swearing, during the campaign, that he didn't tell a group of his "in-crowd donators" that he planned to jam a plan to immediately privatize Social Security through Congress. He's made it clear today that it's it one of his obvious priorities.
Hearing the press cackle at his twisted, mocking jokes makes me ill. "Sometimes I mangle the English language." Chortle chortle. I just love an ignorant ass as my president, don't you?
He says that he earned "political capital" in this election and he intends to spend it. (Completely forgetting, the day after the election, just how many people voted against his agenda in the biggest election turnout in history).
Unity of the people be damned to hell.
As always , Bush denies reality while proudly and forcefully stuffing a right wing agenda down America's throat. He knows he has the majority in the Congress to do as he pleases. Out of the many millions who voted for him, he easily forgets that almost as many millions did not. I came away from the press conference feeling as if he doesn't give a shit and that he's never going to change. It's his right, as our leader, to push his agenda. It will never convince us that he cares about the dangerous and silent civil war brewing within our nation that will come to a head if President Bush fails to present more of a good faith willingness to reach across the aisle.
In yesterday's SF Chronicle, Mark Morford wrote:
"...This much is clear: We are not, with a grim Bush victory, headed for buoyancy and friendship and sincere hope for something new and refreshing. We are not, with another four years of what we just endured, headed toward any sort of easing of bitter tension, a sense of levity, or sexual openness, or true education, or gender respect, or a lightness of spirit and of step."
I feel badly for America, as I would feel for a beloved friend on the wrong path. The difference is that I am a part of my friend and it's impossible for me to be objective. What hurts my friend is killing me. I live in her and her soul is living in me. As a person of vision, I feel suffocated in the knowlege that this leader refuses to change for the greater good of you, of me, and our nation. The November sky even looked heavy-laden as I drove to my class last night. I thought to myself, "The clouds are weighted with the tears of what could have been."