The entirety of the Bush presidency and Bush the man is encapsulated through the story behind this image:
Why? Jump down and allow me to explain.
This painting hung on the wall during Bush's tenure as Gov. in Texas. Here's the memo he wrote to his staff about it (emphasis mine):
I thought I would share with you a recent bit of Texas history which epitomizes our mission.
My very close personal friend from Midland, Joe. J. O'Neill, III, recently loaned me a portrait entitled "A Charge to Keep" by W.H.D. Koerner. This beautiful painting will hang on my wall for the next four years.
The reason I bring this up is that the painting is based upon the Charles Wesley hymn "A Charge to Keep I Have". I am particularly impressed by the second verse of this hymn. The second verse goes like this:
"To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill;
O may it all my powers engage to do my Master's will"
This is our mission. This verse captures our spirit.
Joe was inspired to make this generous loan during the church service preceding the inaugural ceremonies. It was in this church service when we sang the hymn "A Charge to Keep I Have".
When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us. What adds complete life to the painting for me is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves.
Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for your service to our State. God Bless Texas!
The high symbolism of George W. Bush, marching on to answer God's call to serve. I imagine GWB spent many an afternoon imagining himself riding the stallion, chin up and chest pumping. It meant so much to him he took it to D.C. to tame the Potomac. Sid Blumenthal had a piece from last April on Bush and his torture legacy where he quotes Dubya summing up the painting thusly:
He offered his interpretation: "He's a determined horseman, a very difficult trail. And you know at least two people are following him, and maybe a thousand." Bush added that the painting is "based" on an old hymn. "And the hymn talks about serving the Almighty. So it speaks to me personally."
The only problem? W.H.D. Koerner's painting is nothing of the sort. Jacob Weisberg did the leg work researching his new book The Bush Tragedy. From his book: (emphasis again mine)
He came to believe that the picture depicted the circuit-riders who spread Methodism across the Alleghenies in the nineteenth century. In other words, the cowboy who looked like Bush was a missionary of his own denomination.
Only that is not the title, message, or meaning of the painting. The artist, W.H.D. Koerner, executed it to illustrate a Western short story entitled "The Slipper Tongue," published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1916. The story is about a smooth-talking horse thief who is caught, and then escapes a lynch mob in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. The illustration depicts the thief fleeing his captors. In the magazine, the illustration bears the caption: "Had His Start Been Fifteen Minutes Longer He Would Not Have Been Caught."
And there, in a nutshell, is Bush's life. Delusions of grandeur. In his mind he swaggers as "Commander Codpiece", leader of the free world
When in reality he is just
Wile E. Coyote. Tone deaf to reality. Caught up in his own happy story. But in reality, just a two-bit criminal, creating a disaster in everything he does and surrounding himself with cronies to keep him just out of reach of getting caught.
Update [2008-1-25 21:28:50 by MLDB]: Be sure to share the love with this diary from earlier today.