The Confidence Game

Tom DeLay grins for his felony mug shot. George W. Bush tosses off the disparaging words “background noise” when he speaks about problems dogging his administration. And we’re supposed to read “no problem” into these adolescent swaggers. So how is this confidence game working out? The polls say Americans would rather have Democrats in the majority in Congress than Republicans. The polls say that only 29% of the people approve of the way Congress is handling its job. The polls say only 39% of the people approve of the way Bush is doing his job. Bush was asked how he’s handling all the recent goings-on in his administration and he said: "There is some background noise here, a lot of chatter, a lot of speculation and opining, but the American people expect me to do my job and I'm going to." He added, "part of my job is to work with others to fashion a world that will be peaceful for future generations. I've got a job to do to make sure the economy continues to grow. I've got a job to make sure there is a plausible reconstruction plan for cities affected by Katrina." It’s been five years since George W. Bush became President of the United States and the people have been left to wonder when he might begin to do his job. When will all Americans have affordable health care, access to a good education and a workable strategy for getting out of Iraq? When will the President be as concerned for the poor and elderly as he is for big business and the wealthy? And when may we look forward to breathing air that won’t make us sick? It’s good to know that the President intends to start to do his job at some point before the year 2008. But it raises some concern to find out that first he intends to bring peace to all nations of the world for all time to come, world without end amen. When the President talks about background noise, does he mean the chatter in his earpiece when the White House prompters tell him what to say? Or is he hearing voices?