The Titanic Presidency

[Spider Jerusalem]

Many historians use the term "imperial Presidency" to refer to the American executive in the period from roughly the Vietnam War to the Reagan era. It connotes an executive of far-reaching power and little accountability, shielded by an inner circle of yes-men and Praetorians. As such, it's a fair description of the term in office thus far of George W. Bush, whose recent appointment of John Bolton as the ambassador of the United States to the United Nations certainly qualifies as an imperial act.


Bolton is an ultra-rightist reactionary who has on numerous occasions uttered such statements as "There's no such thing as the United Nations", and "If I were redoing the Security Council today, I'd have one permanent member, because that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world".

This belies conflicts with Bush's rhetoric of "conciliation" with nations such as France and Germany; this action speaks louder than any words, and what it's saying is the equivalent of a belligerent middle finger extended to the rest of the world. Of course, Bush's words are meant for domestic consumption. The "average" American will see on his evening newscast that Bush is off mending fences in Europe, and will assume that any tension in America's relationship with other nations is their fault, not ours. And for most Americans, "the rest of the world" is an irrelevant abstraction. It's a long way away, and there are a lot of foreigners there...why should we care what they think?

But when it comes time to write the history books, Bush's time in office may be remembered as "the Titanic presidency". He's made a mockery of international cooperation, thumbed his nose at international law, and subverted the processes of international bodies, all while captaining ship of state that's dangerously off course, leaking at the seams and listing badly to the right. Our would-be emperor may be in for a nasty surprise when he realizes he's sinking, and no one will throw him a line...but the lifeboats have all been chopped into kindling and fed into the boilers, and we're going down with him.

[Redstone]

1. And in the AP wirephoto, it looked like that clown Bolton has

the worst hair since Donald Trump, and the worst scowl since Condoleeza Rice!

Redstone

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. He looks like the result of a demented genetic experiment.

Like someone crossed Kurt Vonnegut and Wilford Brimley, reverse-aged the result twenty years, and jammed a sharp stick up its ass.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Kick. Nominated. (was that a KV dis?)

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. Hell, no. I love Kurt Vonnegut.

And Vonnegut has better hair, too.