If you've ever dumped someone, or been dumped yourself, you're probably familiar with the phrase, "it's not you, it's me." We've all used it (or have had it used on us) to soothe the feelings of someone with whom we want to break up but whose feelings we don't want to hurt. We take the blame for the breakup even if that might not be the case.
The phrase popped into my mind when I visited Salon's War Room this morning and read that President Bush had declared American's didn't dislike him, they were just "unsettled." America is rushing to dump Bush, telling him it's all his fault. Bush, in typical fashion, is reversing the logic of the breakup, essentially telling the American people: It's NOT me, it's YOU.
More on the flip.
Here's the exchange Bush had with the press during a
photo-op at the border he wants to militarize:
Gregory: In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now one point lower than Richard Nixon's before he resigned the presidency. You're laughing, but ...
Bush: I'm not laughing, I just ...
Gregory: Why do you think that is?
Bush: Because we're at war, and war unsettles people. We got -- listen, we've got a great economy. We've added 5.2 million jobs in the last two-and-a-half years. But ... people are unsettled. They don't look at the economy and say life is good. They know we're at war and I'm not surprised that people are unsettled because of war.
Gregory: But they're just not unsettled, sir. They disapprove of the job you're doing.
Bush: That's unsettled.
So that's how it is: It's not that Bush has been a thoroughly incompetent and mendacious president, it's that the people are "unsettled." The dismal reviews of Bush's performance have nothing to do with said performance; the problem lies with you, America, not him.
Coming back to the breakup metaphor, Bush is the equivalent of that abusive partner/spouse who steals from you, lies to you repeatedly and abandons you, coming back only do it all over again. Then, when you finally open your eyes and realize you don't have to have to take it anymore, Bush has the nerve to put the blame on you. "You're unsettled," he says, "you never had it so good--you just don't know it."
It's a familiar pattern for Bush: Someone else is always to blame. It's the Democrat's fault; it's 9/11's fault; it's the CIA's fault; it's the FBI's fault; it's the bureaucracy's fault; it's the press' fault; it's the weather's fault; it's the immigrants' fault; and so on. So when you've already blamed everyone else, there's only one party left to blame: the people. It's the people's fault because they're "unsettled."
As Tony Soprano would say, "you got some fuckin' balls, you know that?"