An Imperial Bubble

Newsweeks's Fareed Zakaria seems to agree that Bush lives in a bubble and an imperial one to boot. Zakaria is, of course, absolutely correct. As noted by many journalists in September, the notion of Bush as an imperial leader was cemented with the image of Bush up in the sky staring down at the devastation of the Gulf Coast outside the window of Air Force One, as if merely looking down on the plight of peasants.

Whoever the next President is (McCain, Hillary, Barney the Dog?), I think one of their top priorities will be a mixture of opening the Presidency back up from a sealed-off bunker and also traveling around the world just to let them that we acknowledge their right to exist.

It's amazing to me (in that modern definition of ironic) that many Bush voters (the 'average' American) supported him because he was just like them, a real guy, etc... when he is, in fact, the ultimate elitist. They thought Bush was the type of guy you could have a beer with (and he doesn't even drink!). It was, of course, a very transparent lie. President Bush has little to no concern for the average American, which if not already evident by his economic policies was made clear in the Katrina aftermath. The only people he cares to know are his old buddies from Texas and Yale and the more loyal members of his daddy's Cabinet who took charge of his. The majority of Americans may not have noticed, or care, but it certainly has rubbed much of the world the wrong way. We've still got 3 years until then, but I am hopeful the candidates of either party will understand that this is a trend needing to be reversed.

An Imperial Presidency-

Bush's travel schedule seems to involve as little contact as possible with the country he is in.

President Bush's most recent foreign trips, to Latin America and Asia, went off as expected. He was accompanied by 2,000 people, several airplanes, two helicopters and a tightly scripted schedule. He met few locals and saw little except palaces and conference rooms. When the program changed, it was to cut out dinners and meetings. Bush's travel schedule seems calculated to involve as little contact as possible with the country he is in. Perhaps the White House should look into the new teleconferencing technologies. If set up right, the president could soon conduct foreign policy without ever having to actually meet foreigners...

...To foreigners, American officials increasingly seem clueless about the world they are supposed to be running... And it is particularly ill suited for the world we are entering. As other countries come into their own, economically and politically, they want to be listened to, not simply tolerated. They resent being lectured to by the United States. They are willing to be led, but in a very different style...