Who’s Controlling the Prez? And Why Not?

Last week in Stralsund, Germany President Bush thought it was clever to sidestep questions about the Middle East and Iran by making remarks about pigs. The remarks were inappropriate, foolish and not funny. German chef Olaf Micheel had bagged wild game boar especially to serve to Bush at a barbecue in Trinwillershagen, a tiny town on the Baltic Sea. The boar chef is also the town’s second deputy mayor. First Bush said, "Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to that pig tonight." Later, when asked questions about the Middle East, he said, “I understand I may have the honor of slicing the pig.” When he was asked a question about what he may have learned from his visit to a rural seaside town that at one time had been behind the Iron Curtain, he said, "I haven't seen the pig yet.” And when an American reporter asked about the Israeli bombing in Beirut the president said, "I thought you were going to ask about the pig, I'll tell you about the pig tomorrow." The point is not that the Prez was evading questions. Although it makes no sense for the president not to answer difficult questions when the reason for his road trips is to show he’s a good and informed leader. The point is that the Prez thought he was being charming and funny and he was being obnoxious, tactless and boorish. President Bush is indiscreet and injudicious. On June 14th, President Bush made fun of the sunglasses worn by a blind reporter. It doesn’t matter that Bush did not know the man was blind or that he phoned him later to apologize. What matters is, the president says anything that comes into his mind, like a child. When he makes these blunders, he thinks he’s being cute, smart, charming and funny. President Bush is imprudent, incompetent and out of control. Yesterday at the G-8 Conference in Strelna Russia, Bush babbled on an open mike for nearly four minutes. He said, “I think Condi's going to go (to the Middle East) pretty soon." A remark that shows he indeed does NOT make decisions about his administration. He said he was just going to talk off the cuff in his closing remarks at the conference. "I'm just gonna make it up. I'm not gonna talk too damn long like the rest of 'em," he said. "Some of these guys talk too long.” And then he said, "See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over.” And to cap his gaffes at the G-8 conference he grabbed German Chancellor Angela Merkel from behind and massaged her neck. The act was caught on camera. The film shows the attention was unwanted in the extreme and Chancellor Merkel was horrified and furious. These are not the boisterous acts of a fun-loving high-spirited guy. These are the ill-advised, unmanageable episodes of a man in the throes of a serious mental disease. For those who have been wondering what it would look like when President George W. Bush has a public mental breakdown, this is what it looks like.