"I am delighted to see you again, Mr. President. I thought you might have wanted to talk after the Democratic sweep of Congress, but you never called. So, please, tell me why you are here today."
"Well, I've been having nightmares again, one in particular that keeps coming back and making me anxious and irritable and Laura doesn't like where I'm at; she says I'm depressed and nervous and thinking about drinking again. In our earlier therapy sessions*, you helped me understand what my dreams might be saying, and I felt better. So here I am."
"Let's start with the one that keeps recurring. Please tell me about it."
"I'm living in a huge house on a coastline. Ocean storms have pounded this area regularly, so the house is built on top of thick, high cement posts. A killer hurricane is heading our way and I've decided not to evacuate along with the rest of the local population, but to ride it out to give hope to our neighbors by showing I'm not a coward. But a number of the posts, worn away by the ocean waves, have fallen, especially a few that have held up the corners of the building. Huge rats now have entry through the holes. I realize I'm in a very dangerous situation as the house could collapse. The hurricane winds are shaking the house. I know I should get out of there, but I can't move. A window smashes, a tidal wave of blood pours into the house, rats are racing in." That's when I wake up, sweating and frightened."
"Do any of those images -- the big house, the hurricane, the disappearing posts, the blood, the rats -- resonate with you? Can you attach any meaning to any of them, from your life.?"
"Well, Karl has left. He was my main pillar of strength and inspiration. He's been with me forever, and we talk freely and openly to each other, and now he's no longer here."
"I think you're on the right track. Any other aides that you've depended on that have left?"
"Yeah, a whole bunch. Rumsfeld resigned, and I depended on him a lot. And Dan Bartlett and Harriet Miers and Scooter and Wolfowitz and Alberto -- they're not around anymore either to lean on."
THE TEXAS GROUP IS SCATTERED
"So a lot of pillars you've counted on for stability and counsel over the years aren't around any longer; many of those you named have been with you for a long time, going all the way back to your Texas days. How does that make you feel?"
"I feel exposed, more open to attack from my enemies -- maybe those are the rats. My old colleagues and aides bucked me up, validated my gut feelings, made me feel better about myself, gave me strength. Now there's just Dick, and though I lean on him for support all the time, to be honest, he kinda scares me. He should be the one seeing you, I think."
"What makes you say that?"
"He's one tightly wound-up dude, if you know what I mean. He's a seething ball of rage, hardly ever smiles; I try to joke around with him, get him to loosen up, you know, but he's like a pit-bull, teeth showing and focused only on his next attack. That's what makes him so successful in Washington, of course, but he's that way even when he's supposed to be relaxing. No wonder he shot that poor friend of his in the face. I've even seen him drooling, almost foaming at the mouth, sometimes when we're talking about the Democrats or Iran. Gives me the willies."
"But you're the President, you can reign him in, yes?"
"Well, after six and a half years where he's been left more or less to operate on his own, and with that dedicated staff of similar pit bulls -- Scooter, Addington, and so on -- it's a bit difficult to get him to change now. Besides I agree with him on most things, so I guess I just have to get over my nervousness around him. Dick's a force of nature and you just let him loose to roar. Besides, now that the others are gone, I have to rely on him more and more, and he does take the brunt of the political attacks away from me directly."
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
"Now there's just Dick, and though I lean on him for support all the time, to be honest, he kinda scares me. He should be the one seeing you, I think."
by
Brett Paatsch (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 22 diaries, 1171 comments)
on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 12:57:55 AM
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