Bush: The Sacificer

Amazingly, despite being a lame duck, the current president is also very full of, um, what makes the grass so green. Witness his interview regarding golf and the Gulf:

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," Bush said in a White House interview with the Politico. "I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Bush said he decided to stop playing golf on Aug. 19, 2003, when a truck bomb in Baghdad killed U.N. special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and more than a dozen others.

The Politico

Except he apparently, didn't, exactly, stop exactly then.

It could have been a lie.

The problem is, the question whether Bush not golfing might've had something to do with the war (which sounded like a planted question to me, actually) and it coinciding with his having knee trouble aside, which is, well, a plausible excuse coming from a shallow man who was most likely not aware as early as 2003 that he needed to do something besides give up sweets-- or pray more or whatever, means little--he still invaded Iraq, and the WMDs were not there, Saddam wasn't in position for any kind of threat to the US (no-fly zones?) and the merest connection to terrorism consisted of lone guys hanging out in the Kurdish hinterland. Bush misread all the intelligence, and the US invaded, and now, we have over 4K soldiers gone. Atoning for a war of choice against an enemy one has intentionally inflated via propaganda with Lenten austerities is not exactly an appropriate choice for a person in power. Giving up lying to the public might've been good. Practicing due diligence regarding intelligence estimates--that would be good. But he lacks such self-awareness.

He needs to seem like a Sacrificer, as well as a Decider, and a hugger of widows and mothers? Enter the End of Golf, and sympathize with the heavy head that wears the thorny crown of being a War President.

One day, a pretty little grandbaby is going to worm its wee way up into the lap of George W. Bush, former president. "Grampy," it will singsong, "What did you do during the war you started?"

"Why, I served fake turkey and gave up golf and sweets," Bush will say, and that small child will know for a certainty, that her grandpappy is the bravest man ever. Because he would say such a stupid thing aloud, where the people can hear. Most people would think the better of that, but Bush never thinks, and just lets such drivel hang out. And he will hand his dentures to the apple-cheeked wee-yun, and she will pretend to bite him, just as history will bite Bush's ass. For being a cynical stagecrafter and sucking--a lot.