Devoid of swagger and his trademark smirk, it was a pathetic figure that stood to deliver his advice on the economy before the national TV audience last night. One could almost feel sorry for George Bush if it were possible to banish from the mind that here stands the same Decider responsible for the greed and power- lusting slaughter of a million human beings, a number that mathematically consigns him to the company of Pol Pot and Adolph Eichmann.
He told us nothing we did not already know about the financial crisis after the turgid news of the past several days, and he told us to be scared. Anyone with the brain of a Neanderthal and not emotionally drenched in evangelical zealotry to the exclusion of all other influence has most likely been scared for a number of years under The Decider's reign. The image, however, reassured us that he could still read the teleprompter, which he managed stonily without any hint of a thinking process.
It was difficult to suppress the vision of that same image -- the now pathetic monster -- standing before the World Criminal Court. But if there is any hope for restoring our Constitution, regaining some moral stature among the decent peoples of the world, contributing to a future not terrorized by threat of torture and slaughter, and re-establishing the rule of law and humanity's need for justice -- then that is exactly what we should have happen.
