There they were, the one dimensional characters of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush for what was billed by Larry King and the CNN people as, “an emotional inspiring hour with the Bushes,” for the Larry King Live Show April 23, 2007, from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Mind-boggling on several accounts, not the least of which, being that the Bushes are so guarded, all of them, about anything that they consider to be their private lives, that touching upon any kind of an emotional level with them on any subject that might tend to shed light on them as to the truthfulness of who they really are, vs. the canned, cartoon character responses that they always give, is next to impossible.  Unless, of course, they happen to be on any one of the many anger trips, which often pours, like an unexpected, unbeknownst surge out of them, during those times, at home, or half way round the world, when they encounter people brave enough to tell them what they really think of them, their sons, their sorry and sorrowful invasion and occupation of Iraq; their facetious definition of democracy, and  on any other subject which happens not to give them  the, “praise and glory for the Bushes”—that they like and covet so.

It was illuminating to hear them say that when their young daughter, Robin, was diagnosed with leukemia they were also told that there was nothing they could do. “No point in treating her,” except to, “take her home, love her,” make her comfortable, “and let her gently slip away.”

The conversation with Larry King stayed on facts, not emotions, except perhaps for the mention that although the doctors had advised them not to tell anyone, George Herbert Walker Bush, who is always not wanting to, “go over the top” but usually does, had called “everyone” who went over to help—something which made them feel better [when the end came] because that had been their way of trying to do something for Robin.

But there. There was no talk on this interview about what the loss meant to them, how it affected each of them individually, or of how they, individually and as a family, dealt with her dying and eventual loss.  There was no talk either of what was the push for them, as has been reported on the news at several times and in different places, to go out and play golf the day after she was buried.

There was no telling Larry King anything like, “my knees buckled” when they told me what she had. Or, “I nearly fainted right then and there.” There was no sign of what turmoil their lives might have been thrown into by the fact of such a diagnosis.  There was no relating to Larry King as to how they might have tried to explain to their little girl why it was that she was not feeling good, or to her siblings why it was that their sister wasn’t up to much.  By what little was said on the Larry King Show about Robin Bush, there is the impression that they might have all been trying to pretend that nothing was wrong. There is the impression that they tried with all their might to keep whatever painful truths were in their hearts from one another.

There is the lingering feeling that somewhere in a graveyard in these United States there is a little girl who needs her parents, along with a brother or two, to grieve for her, and to comfort each other.

There is also the lingering feeling that there is a whole nation which needs to grieve, to come to term with their losses and that much would change in this world if the Bushes could only grieve—not just for Robin Bush but if they could grieve as well for all the harm their lies, their power grabs, manipulations, fast games, greed, oil thirst and war idealization have cost the world.

There is a lingering feeling that if the Bushes could face whatever voids in their lives, through grieving; if they could come to the realization that the world does not want them, that the world does not need them, that the world thinks of their politics as dirty, filled with mud and dishonesty, that their name is viewed as a cancer on this world; we would, the world would, and the Bushes too,  ... we would all be in a better place.

But that is not to be...  and the Bushes will continue to try to push themselves on to the world, as Poppy Bush did, on the very same Larry King Show of April 23rd, when asked if it was true that there might be some Bush fatigue keeping his son Jeb out of the Presidential run for 2008, to which George Herbert Walker Bush responded,

“... I hope that Jeb, who left office looking good. He's not through with politics. I think he's a good man. Most other people think that, a man of principal. And I think he's got a future. But it's not now -- in politics.”

Or, as Barbara Bush did in her keynote speech of Sunday, May 6th, 2007, during a luncheon at the Austin-Sheridan in Texas, in honor of the families of 24 officers killed in the line of duty, when she used the occasion to remind people that,

“we are a nation constantly dealing with danger, but we are also a nation of patriotism and service ...”

Or, even whether it is some almost Freudian slip, as happened to Poppy, again, during the April 23rd Larry King Live program when, asked if he missed being President, he said, “NO. I make ... [but then he quickly corrected himself to say,] I miss make decisions. That’s all.  I don’t miss being there at the head of the table or the glories of the ...”

But please excuse me. He almost said it.  He almost said, “I make decisions.” So, to all of those who think that Dick Cheney is the Decider-in-Chief, please think again.  George Herbert Walker Bush almost admitted on air that he is the decision maker. He almost admitted as I long have suspected that he is the real Decider-in-Chief—not Dick Cheney.

And then, when Larry King asked, incredulously, “NO?” Poppy answered,

“Well, of course we ... we get insight and do it all through our oldest son...”

Hmm. But then, feeling that he had, perhaps indeed gone over the top, quickly added this denial: “And so we feel plugged in.  And we feel we know a little bit. But I don’t keep up with all this legislation.” 

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