Thursday, January 11, 2007

UGH!

Well, the president is out trying to drum up support for his latest non-plan for Iraq. Again he starts with references to 9/11 and transitioned into Iraq as if the two were somehow related. "Leave before the job is done" has apparently replaced "cut and run" as the horror to be avoided. "Stay the course," is nowhere to be heard.

Again he offers platitude after platitude and generality after generality rather than present a real plan with measurable milestones to track progress toward the goal. Of course the "goal" has only been defined as "victory" with absolutely no definition of what that might be or how we can tell when it's accomplished.

He is speaking before a military audience in Ft. Benning, GA, and the response to his remarks is tepid at best. The expressions on the faces of those forced to be there and listen to this tripe says much more about how these people feel than anything they might say if asked by the media.

The saddest thing is that he still refuses to acknowledge that the country has a multitude of other problems that need to be addressed, all of which he has studiously avoided in his mad rush to war. He invokes the boogie man over and over again. He punctuates his comments with a smarmy smile that I'm sure is intended to convey compassion and leadership. It got so irritating and so embarrassing to watch that I came in here to work on my website and to write. It is really sad when our president elicits a cringe of sympathy rather than a surge of confidence and hope.

2 comments:

Sewmouse said...

Kudos to you for being able to watch it.

The very sound of his voice makes me physically sick at my stomach - I want to puke. I want to scream. I want to throw things and perform acts of senseless violence.

If he would just SHUT THE FUCK UP, maybe the insurgents would settle down?

Leandra said...

It was rather amazing to watch really. The body language on the audience clearly said they didn't want to be there, and later I heard several commentators who noticed the same thing. The applause, which was clearly orchestrated, was tepid at best. They were told to clap but they didn't have to like it.

It was amazing to watch. All of his carefully scripted moves, smiles, etc. which were designed to evoke confidence, simply made me want to cringe in sympathy. He's so clearly out of his element and realizes that this is the last ditch for his administration. It's scary to think that it all rests on someone as obviously not up to it as the combination of Bush and al-Maliki.