An Oedipal tragedy: As deadly folly rages, "we're left to analyze George W. Bush's tender ego...."

[DeepModem Mom]

Fathers and Sons
How George W. Bush has ruined the family franchise.
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Dec 8, 2006

....The son who was wrongly launched (George W. instead of Jeb) has made such a mess of things that he has ruined the family franchise. Without getting too Oedipal, it’s fair to say that so many mistakes George W. Bush made are the result of his need to distinguish himself from his father and show that he’s smarter and tougher. His need to outdo his father and at the same time vindicate his father’s failure to get re-elected makes for a complicated stew of emotions. The irony is that the senior Bush, dismissed by Junior’s crowd as a country-club patrician, looks like a giant among presidents compared to his son. Junior told author Bob Woodward, for his book “Plan of Attack,” that he didn’t consult his father in planning the invasion of Iraq but consulted a higher authority, pointing, presumably, to the heavens.

The father also consulted a higher authority: family fixer James Baker. The Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by Baker, pulls no punches in calling Bush’s policies a failure. It’s a statement of the obvious, but when you have a collection of Washington wise men, plus retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor (perhaps doing penance for her vote that put Bush in the White House during the disputed 2000 race), it’s the equivalent of last rites for Bush’s Iraq policy, along with his presidency. It’s not a plan for victory because that doesn’t exist except in Bush’s fantasy. The recommendations Baker and company offer—of more international engagement and shifting U.S. troops to a backup role to Iraqi forces—may help the administration manage and mask defeat. Even so, that may be hard for Bush to accept. His body language when receiving the report, while polite, was dismissive, thanking the eminences assembled for breakfast at the White House for dropping off a copy.

This president has lost all capacity to lead. Eleven American servicemen died in Iraq on the day Bush was presented the report, which calls the situation there “grave and deteriorating.” Events on the ground threaten to overtake even this grim assessment. And we’re left to analyze Bush’s tender ego and whether he can reverse course on the folly that is killing and maiming countless Iraqis along with U.S. troops. Historians are already debating whether Bush is the worst president ever, or just among the four or five worst. He has little choice but to accept the fundamental direction of the Iraq Study Group. He’s up to his neck in quicksand, and they’ve thrown him a rope. It’s trendy to make fun of the over-the-hill types in Washington, but they’ve done a noble thing in reminding us that war is not just about spin and a way to win elections. It’s about coming together to find a way out, however unpalatable.

Bush was asked during the campaign in 2000 what would happen if he lost. He said he’d go back to Texas, watch a lot of baseball and have a great life with Laura and the girls. He’s an accidental president, a man who was vaulted into a job he wasn’t prepared for, and who treated war like a lark. Bush’s father observed between sobs in his Florida speech, “A true measure of a man is how you handle victory and how you handle defeat.” He was talking about Jeb, but surely it’s his first-born who triggers the tears.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16115397/site/newsweek/

[stellanoir]

1. all too true

1st rec

thanks DMM

[JohnnyLib2]

2. "This president has lost all capacity to lead."

K and R. May the Dark Ages end earlier than planned.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. That is a powerful line. nt

[wryter2000]

7. When DID he have the capacity to lead? n/t

n/t

[calimary]

31. Man, NO KIDDING. Anybody remember during one of the debates

with Gore - in which bush was asked what qualified him to lead the country? Remember how he answered? "Because ah'm a leader." I remember at the time thinking how lame that was. You're qualified to lead because you're a leader? Says who? What proof do you offer to back that up, concretely? He never offered that proof, that I recall, or any other substantive answer to that question other than how we should all just accept that he was "a leader."

[wryter2000]

38. Remember the debate with Kerry

When he drooled through most of it?

[calimary]

39. When he wasn't focused on that nice little voice in his earpiece?

Horrid. Remember that curious little rectangular bump under his jacket? Hmmmmmm....

[kath]

52. He was also using the earpiece during the 2000 "debates".

Long pauses as he cocked his head and listened intently, then blurted out an answer. Many of us on Salon's TableTalk noted this at the time, and felt that he looked for all the world as if he was getting cued through an earpiece.

[tridim]

48. Yea, and I remember the M$M claiming Bush won those debates

when it was obvious to everyone else that he got his ass kicked.

Need some wood?

[opihimoimoi]

9. W never had the capacity....he has Losership....

[femrap]

14. He needs to be impeached....he's broken enough

laws. Or can we get him deemed 'incompetent' as in mentally incompetent? I really do think his grasp on reality is only slight.

He can be frog-marched out of the WH in handcuffs or escorted in a straight jacket. But he has got to GO...our country, hell, the world can't have him around for 2 more years. I wonder if his father is thinking of having him 'taken out?' Maybe that's why he was crying so much the other day? He's put a hit out on him so * can go down as a martyr????

HMMMMMMM..........

[smirkymonkey]

21. He never had it in the first place.

This has been like "The Emperor's New Clothes" all along.

[sallyseven]

3. I do not feel sorry for George the father.

I don't feel sorry for George the jerk. They got better than they deserve. The Jerk is so arrogant that he thinks he is right and everyone else in the world is wrong. The father, knowing how fragile his son is, allowed him to be conscripted in to the presidency. The damage is so overwhelming that it is impossible to even consider sympathy for either of them. The PNAC needs to be abolished and the right wingers need to be put in their place. McCain needs to be stopped.

[acmavm]

5. Hell, I don't have one ounce of sympathy for anyone in the entire

family.

What a waste. Of assets, of privilege, of opportunity, and of good clean air.

[bklyncowgirl]

12. Yup, Poppy created this monster.

George W. Bush should never have been allowed anywhere the presidency.

George H.W. Bush knew what sort of a man his son was. He could have nipped the idea of running Dubya for president in the bud. If George had insisted on running he could have denied him his blessing and when it looked like George was going to lose in Florida, he could have denied him the services of Jim Baker and the other family retainers who helped boost his son into the White House over the man who actually won the most votes.

He's been covering up for his wayward son his entire life. Perhaps if Poppy had allowed George Jr. to experience the consequences of his actions, George Jr. might have become a better man. Now America is stuck with an arrogant 60 year old adolescent who has abrogated more power to himself than any president in American history and who refuses to listen to any voices except for those the resonate inside the empty spaces of his head.

Thanks alot Poppy.

[wryter2000]

6. I've always said

Few people mention the Oedipal dynamics behind this war. I think different actors had different reasons for wanting the war, but Bush clearly had it all mixed up with his father. On the one hand, "Saddam tried to kill my daddy." On the other, "I can best my powerful father and win over my shrew of a mother by beating daddy's enemy and winning a second term."

[DeepModem Mom]

8. And you've been right, wryter. nt

[CrazyOrangeCat]

10. Great thread

:kick:

[Cha]

11. Kick and Recommend!

Too bad little mr BIG EGO's handlers won't let him read Eleanor Clift's insights in this copy of Newsweek.

What Tragic joke has been played on the Government of the USoAmerica.

[tblue]

13. Clift is far too kind to the entire * klan. * won't use B*ker's lifeline to get out of this mess

because he's too stubborn and stupid, and his agenda and goals for Iraq are grandiose pipe dreams that were always all about him personally and the racketeers who would benefit. He won't accept any ideas that so publicly come from somewhere else.

Poppy broke down and cried because he's worried about J*b. I'm worried about J*b, too. Because he'll be running in '12, you watch, and he will have a good chance of winning, dammit to hell. Repug voters have very short, selective, maleable memories.

[EVDebs]

15. We must find out Barbara Bush's view on the ongoing fiasco in Iraq

Possibly mummy, when presented with the facts, has more testicular fortitude than her spawn.

[Laurab]

26. She probably does have more "testicular fortitude"

but she doesn't like to waste her "beautiful mind" on things like body bags and wars. When Borat was on TDS with Jon Stewart, he mentioned Bush's "father Barbara", and it was funny, but it also rang kind of true. I don't think we're going to see any common sense or advice to her spawn from her.

[Straight Shooter]

16. Well, if the true measure of a man is how he handles victory and defeat ...

... then bush is the teeniest tiniest little squat of an idiot ever to walk across a stage and demand, "I've got political capital and I intend to spend it!"

As for Poppy, he can go f* himself. He knew his son was a loser, but he sure didn't mind contemplating the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, and the destruction of the Constitution.

Let all their tender egos rot.

[Ishoutandscream2]

17. Hasn't this what we've been saying all along?

A brilliant article, but she's parroting what we've been saying all along. A war between father and son has developed into a national and world tragedy. God help all of us, and please remove this incompetent nutjob from office asap.

[calimary]

32. Yes. It IS what we've been screaming all along.

Yes. It IS.

[TheWatcher]

18. I'm sorry, even this article feels like nothing but spin.

The Truth is America has been seized and taken over by a Crime Family.

Bush is a Criminal. Period. Plain And Simple. It cannot be debated or argued against. It simply is.

He was only president because of two stolen elections. He never had the capacity to lead anything.

He couldn't run a Convenience store from 1 till 7 in the morning.

And he never has. The worst fantasy this country lives in, is the one that this man has ever done anything in office, other than behave like a Petulant piece of shit, play his Gameboy, and speak whatever prepared pap that was fed to him through the earpiece.

This country has been living in a Wizard Of Oz nightmare for six years.

We have an out of control, criminal Government that does not represent the people, and believes it is above the law. It's that simple. Bush is only a figurehead puppet of that Criminal Enterprise.

Even if he WERE impeached, of which I am probably the loudest supporter I know, even I surrender the fact that we would only be treating the most visible symptom, and not the disease itself.

Bush never was the real threat. It was the people behind him.

But he'll make a great fall guy.

And he is the worst president ever.

Fake or not.

And one of the worst human beings who has ever infected a society.

[smirkymonkey]

23. Remember the Romanovs?

I never understood how the Bolsheviks could have executed the entire family, even the children.

However, I am beginning to see that when one family has caused so much damage and human misery, how the Bolsheviks could have been motivated to make sure that family never, ever came back into power again. Not that the alternative was much better.

Hopefully, the Bush family will do themselves in and we will never have to worry about them again either.

[calimary]

33. We should all remember the lesson of the Romanovs.

And of Bastille Day. If things get bad enough, and STILL nothing's done, sometimes the people take matters into their own hands. In fact, we should remember OUR OWN War for Independence and how we've already had experience throwing off one monarchy. And we were civilized. Our monarch was allowed to live, over there across the Atlantic, unlike in czarist Russia and France where the crowned heads met a different fate.

[mitchum]

35. The Bolsheviks were correct to execute the entire Romanov line

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

19. Wise Men?!?!

"The Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by Baker, pulls no punches in calling Bush’s policies a failure. It’s a statement of the obvious, but when you have a collection of Washington wise men,. . ."

If I'm not mistaken, Ed Meese was a member of this commission. No sane person would ever accuse Ed Meese of being a wise man. Ms. Clift was being too complimentary.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi Mrs. Ted Nancy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

40. Glad to be here

Thanks for the welcome.
I've lurked here for awhile, but finally felt compelled to comment on those alleged "wise men" in the ISG.

[DeepModem Mom]

28. First post!!! Welcome to DU!

[calimary]

34. Yeah, when I saw ed meese in there, I almost had heart failure. BTW -

WELCOME TO DU!

And I wonder how Sandra Day O'Connor feels. I wonder if she is trying to atone for her vote? Bitch. It's gonna take a LOT more than that, Sandra. You have all that blood on YOUR hands, too.

[badgerpup]

20. How would we or 'they' go about declaring Bush medically...

...or psychologically unfit to be in office?

IMHO, the country needs for him to be out of the driver's seat NOW.

Impeachment takes too long, and the country can't afford to fart around waiting for all the legal chants and dances. Too many people on both sides are dead already. :cry:

He can still take a nice trip to Germany, see the Hague...but there needs to be AN ADULT in charge, because right now Bush and Reality are running on parallel lines.
They ain't never, ever ever gonna intersect. :banghead::argh:

[Cleita]

22. Seems to me that Bush, Sr. was "the worst President ever" until

junior came along. I really don't think Jeb would have been a better President. He just wouldn't have sounded so stupid in public.

[The Count]

44. Just think: thanks to Jr he'll be known as "Bush the Smarter" He should be grateful

for that. His status on the ladder was certainly improved.

[cassiepriam]

24. Mental health people have been talking all along about Bush.

Only now are people starting to listen and finally getting it.
Bush is crazy.

Also I agree with Clift as to why Poppy broke down.
But I also think there are some seriously bad pieces
that the public is not aware of, and poppy knows
what they are....

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

27. There is a seismic shift regarding the comfort level folks now have for calling out

the obvious...gwb is bat guano nuts.

Suzanne Malveaux on CNN talked about him "not just drinking the Kool Aid, but making it"

James Baker said, he his job wasnt to put gwb "on the couch".

On Scarborough, Wednesday, a guest stated the ISG was trying to talk gwb "out of the trees."

On a personal level, even my republic friends, family and coworkers are acknowledging his utter disconnect and BS statements.

What's the next step, though? I've already called my reps, emailed MSM outlets. I will keep doing so. Is there anything else we can do? MKJ

[DeepModem Mom]

29. We are a bit helpless, it seems. Frank Rich today mentions the group of elders...

who went to see LBJ over Vietnam. But I wonder if even that kind of intervention would stop Bush II. I've dismissed the calls for impeachment as impractical (very unlikely to happen), but if the kind of talk you describe continues, impeachment might be looked at as a serious possibility.

[cassiepriam]

50. No the elder intervention would not stop bush.

Hard to imagine what will.

The stage certainly seems to be set for possible
impeachment. I would have agreed with you that no one would
pursue that. But things seem to be shifting rapidly.

[mwb970]

53. I've never heard as much impeachment talk as I've heard this weekend.

On this board and others, in comments to articles, in letters to the editor, everywhere - the nation is overwhelmingly saying GET RID OF THIS IDIOT. If not by impeachment, then how about a Nixonian resignation?

It's as if the entire nation is having an immune response to this foreign object in our midst. Bush does not deserve to remain in power, and the nation cannot withstand two more freakin' years of this terrible administration.

Somebody's a-gonna do somethin'. That's my prediction.

[cassiepriam]

54. Yes I feel it too. Something is afoot....

Lots of public talk, reflecting behind the scenes machinations??

The emperor has no clothes.
Everyone is now on the same page.
Finally.

But what to do about it....

Poppy bush was crying for a reason.
He knows what is up.

[calimary]

37. Just make sure you keep doing so. Now is NOT the time to get

complacent. We haven't reached THIS part of the critical mass yet. I'm gonna write another column about it, I think probably before this weekend is out. Because it's time to start suggesting "The Goldwater Moment." Time to start putting it out there. Since these other people you've listed already have started tentatively taking their first steps down that path. We've been at the far end of it, of course, for a long time. But the rest of 'em are starting to head our way, slowly, nervously. They'll need guidance and fortification, constant reminders and bucking-up, because the mighty White House machinery and spin juggernaut will be pushing even more ferociously in the opposite direction.

We need to remain strong, resolute, and focused. I think the goal is now within sight. The goal meaning IMPEACHMENT AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE. As he digs his heels in and insists victory or bust, while the rest of the country and most of the rest of the media (discounting Pox "news" and the limbots of the world) starts coming to its senses, it will become more and more painfully evident that if we're EVER going to dig out of this mess, and he's the only thing still stubbornly and unmovingly standing in the way, well... maybe we're going to have to do it WITHOUT him. The impediment at some point becomes so detrimental and SO profoundly damaging and negative that it cannot be allowed to remain in place. If the leg becomes gangrenous, you have to face removal of it, if you don't want to risk gangrenous poison to the entire rest of the body.

It's important to stay active, and stay vigilant. CONTINUE:

- Writing letters to the editor.
- Trying to get calls through to talk shows, radio AND TV.
- Talking to everyone and anyone you encounter, if/when the subject and opportunity present themselves.
- Stoking the "watercooler talk" at the office.
- Blogging.
- Signing petitions.
- CALLING YOUR REPS - WHETHER THEY'RE WITH US OR NOT. Sometimes they come to their senses, too. See Senator Gordon Smith, R-OR.
- CALLING SOMEBODY ELSE'S REPS. WHETHER THEY'RE WITH US OR NOT.
- Contributing where you can to organized efforts to thwart this asshole and IMPEACH his ass and bring him to justice.
- Demand accountability - of him, with your EVERY breath.
- Energize your friends, and get them activated on this, too. Even ONE MORE HAND grabbing on - will help!

Just. Don't. Stop. WHATEVER YOU DO. DO NOT STOP NOW. DO NOT GIVE UP. DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED. We may actually be getting close. FINALLY!!!

EYES ON THE PRIZE, GUYS. DON'T EVER WAVER.

[cassiepriam]

51. The stage is being set......

Maybe that is why Poppy was crying,
he knows the repugs are throwing junior from the train.

They are no longer covering up his mentally illness and stupidity.

[calimary]

36. There is. That's why one of the VERY FIRST things junior did, as an

executive order, when he "TOOK" the Oval Office, was to order the presidential papers of reagan and bush 41 sealed for longer. Reagan's were about to come out, too. The embargo was just about to expire. He locked 'em up again.

If there was nothing bad in there, I wonder WHY he did that? What WAS it that he didn't want the American public to see? Iran/Contra, maybe (and that's probably JUST FOR STARTERS)?

[cassiepriam]

49. Yes, wonder if it will all come out now?

I hope so.....

Reagan was also mentally ill.
Big time dementia.

[calimary]

30. Beat ya to it, Eleanor!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3006712

But then again, MANY of us knew this long before you admitted it, Eleanor. Glad you're finally coming around, though. We need more stuff like this coming out in the mainstream media if we're EVER to get rid of Mr. "Oedipus Wrecks."

[The Count]

43. Thanks! That's a much better piece than namby pamby Eleanor's!

[LongTomH]

41. Let's HOPE he ruined the family franchise!

I have the horrible suspicion they're already grooming Jebbie or another Bush mafioso type for 2008/2012/2016! These people aren't going away! :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[The Count]

42. "I used to be a cowboy, now I am a statesman" Jr posturing to reporters in

Journeys with George....he was never either of those, but Poppy told him he was so he held himself out as such. And suck-up reporters went with it.
Clift herself attacked Gore in 2000, so...

[BuelahWitch]

45. Wasn't Clift a big Bush booster back in the day?

She'd sit in the PBS and CNN round table discussions and defend him along with the likes of Douche Bag.
These people knew all along that GWB was defective. They played their damn game of boosting him in the press and on television, and almost 3000 of our kids and tens of thousands of Iraquis have died because of it.
Fuck her and all the other Republican apologists who helped get us into this mess, including James Baker and Sandra Day O'Connor. Stuff all of them in a special cell at Gitmo and throw away the key.

[MasonJar]

46. Bush is obviously not going to accept the report; he is simply too

stupid, too arrogant, too untethered to reality, too unempathetic, too uncaring about the multiplicity of deaths, American and Iraqi, too everything bad to accept failure in the open. W is quite literally now totally delusional.

[Imagevision]

47. It appears Bush has been experiencing mental problems