WP: Bush Confounded by the 'Unacceptable'

[Rose Siding]

President Bush finds the world around him increasingly "unacceptable."

In speeches, statements and news conferences this year, the president has repeatedly declared a range of problems "unacceptable," including rising health costs, immigrants who live outside the law, North Korea's claimed nuclear test, genocide in Sudan and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Bush's decision to lay down blunt new markers about the things he deems intolerable comes at an odd time, a phase of his presidency in which all manner of circumstances are not bending to his will: national security setbacks in North Korea and Iraq, a Congress that has shrugged its shoulders at his top domestic initiatives, a favorability rating mired below 40 percent.

But a survey of transcripts from Bush's public remarks over the past seven years shows the president's worsening political predicament has actually stoked, rather than diminished, his desire to proclaim what he cannot abide. Some presidential scholars and psychologists describe the trend as a signpost of Bush's rising frustration with his declining influence.........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101201580.html

[gratuitous]

1. Damn reality!

And its well-known liberal bias!

[Karenca]

2. bush: 'It's unacceptable to think".

[anarch]

3. he seems to have been living in some kind of fantasy world for some time

I would guess reality has always been "unacceptable" to pretty much all the Bush family. It might besmirch their "beautiful minds" after all.

[elehhhhna]

4. Yeah? Well Norman Effing Bates found his Mothers death unnacceptable,

too. SO F@CKING WHAT. George?

He simply can't face reality because, like Andrea Yates, when one becomes a bit lucid the guilt is overwhelming.

[TygrBright]

5. ah, yes... Reality and its well-known "liberal bias" strikes again. n/t

[Solly Mack]

6. I enjoyed this article

"But a survey of transcripts from Bush's public remarks over the past seven years shows the president's worsening political predicament has actually stoked, rather than diminished, his desire to proclaim what he cannot abide. Some presidential scholars and psychologists describe the trend as a signpost of Bush's rising frustration with his declining influence."

This is true to a very lesser degree of anyone losing control, or who has the feeling of losing control - you want a place where the bad can't get in(that which you can no longer abide because it's harmful to your mental well being) - HOWEVER...this is more especially pronounced in a control freak and can be very damaging to everyone within range of the control freak's reach. You start to narrow your focus of things to control - to dominate. So any offense, real or imagined, becomes something you can't "abide." It's a means to bully people around you for your loss of control or your sense of control. It's a way to blame them for your feelings of inadequacy. You're looking for a safe space - a space you rule/control to be more accurate. Safe space isn't really the same thing to a control freak as it is to others. A mentally stable person wants a safe space to regroup...friends are welcome and being able to share the burden is a big help.

However, in a control freak, a safe space is that area where they are boss. Where people listen to them and do their bidding. Where they are always right and no one ever questions their actions.

Bush tried to turn Texas into his safe space ...and he's tried to turn America into his safe space as well.Think of the controlled environment he demands - kept away from protesters, town hall meetings with supporters only, etc. And as long as things went his way, he felt safe.

Bush's psyche no longer feels safe. Worse, Bush no longer feels he can control his environment in order to be safe. And for a President to feel that...you know the problems go much deeper than mere policy issues.

Bush's pathological need for loyalty stems not from having to keep his actions as President a secret - he needs - demands - that fanatical level of loyalty to feel safe. I'd wager Bush is experiencing some extremely intense feelings of distrust in those around him - more so than usual - and Bush is a very distrustful person. A lot of paranoia. Now would be the time to push his buttons...he's close to the breaking point.

The underlying need to control things - is to feel safe. In someone like Bush, the need to control things is exacerbated - greatly - by any perceived threat to that control - and he needs - not just wants...but needs that control to function.

He's not looking to to heal himself after experiencing something painful...he's not suffering from distrust because someone recently betrayed him or harmed him. His need to control and and his distrust are part and parcel to protecting his damaged psyche(and Bush doesn't think of himself as damaged - but rather he sees himself as right - the "moral imperative" from the article - in a world that just doesn't get it).

Bush can't function without those safeguards...he can't function without feeling everything and everyone around will behave in a manner conducive to feeding his world view.

Chip away at Bush's illusions and he will implode. Attack his safe space...erode it. Bush will crumble - but give him time to refocus and he'll entrench himself even more in his "moral imperative"

but that's just my opinion...

[thereismore]

7. The pitiful insecure little man needs a safety zone. Suck your thumb,

sucker!