Comment Archive:
Monday 1st October 2007
George W Push Off
That America holds prime position as planet Earth’s top superpower nobody can deny. That her gloved fingers are immersed up their knuckle-joints in various economic and military pies in every corner of the globe is also a fact that cannot be refuted. America has got might and muscle aplenty and, the recent credit crunch aside, it can put a lot of big money where its big yankee mouth is. When America yelps or - worse - pulls a big fat pout the whole world tends to listen and hangs onto its every utterance. If America blows its nose you can feel the shockwaves on the moon and hear the journo’s composing their pod casts before the hankie of the UK wipes up the last of the snot. Whatever the cause, whatever the occasion, America is always newsworthy.
Whether we like it or not America defines the West.
In Europe of course we outwardly rail at such an idea – the Old Country does well in my opinion to view America with a heavy sense of world weary tolerance and wise distaste – and even in the UK, while at heart and in the media believing that we are America’s most valued, most honoured right hand, we secretly balk at the idea that our international identity is somehow subsumed within America’s obese, oil rich shadow and our global will annexed to that of the American Manifest Destiny.
To the eyes of the non-Western world though, America is our figurehead and our lead. America calls the shots, sets the trends, loads the dice and in short decides who gets the breaks and who takes the falls. And though it pains me to admit it, they’re not far wrong.
I’ve never hidden my disenchantment with America on this site. I’ve written about it many times and I’m sure it’ll be an ever recurring theme but I’ve always been motivated by a sense of frustration and disappointment more than ideological hatred. America is immensely powerful and yes that’s damn scary but power doesn’t always have to be a corrupting force... there is so much good that America could do, plainly wants to do and yet miserably fails to do... and it is that alone that sets my teeth on edge and makes me want to lay into the Whitehouse administration with a big stick.
America is like a huge, eff-off juggernaut careering down the global highway at 195mph with the equivalent of a gurning paraplegic at the wheel. Smaller cars can either get out of the way or get crushed to pieces and those trying to drive up alongside the cab find their entreaties to pull over or slow down met with a slack-jawed grin and a cheap line in mispronounced rhetoric. The driver plainly isn’t slowing down for anyone or anything and so the whole damn convoy just keeps rolling on and on. Meanwhile as the speed of the juggernaut continues to increase everyone else on the road finds it more and more difficult to keep a lid on their mounting road rage... The situation is explosive in every sense of the word. It can only end in one big ugly pile up.
That the careening power that is America has been placed into the hands of George W Bush is both a travesty and an embarrassment to the West. He shames every English speaking citizen on the entire planet. As America defines the West so does its president define America. And at the moment America is at best sick and at worst a joke. With so many far reaching resources at its disposal neither is a good way to be. Sober, wise and considered would be a good way to be. Hell, I’d even settle for half morally decent, half intelligent and partially humane. Anything would be an improvement on the current Bush administration.
As the voice of America, George W Bush makes America look lazy, insensitive, stupid and, worse, inconsequential. George W Bush speaks and the rest of the world scoffs, sniggers and doubts. The man’s oratory skills are shambolic to say the least. His rhetoric sways absolutely nobody. No wonder Americans loved Tony Blair. He could read from a Janet and John book and make it sound sincere and of the greatest importance. George W Bush however can read out proclamations and decrees of the most amazingly interstellar magnitude and make them sound like an essay scrawled out at the last minute by a High School jock in between sinking a Bud and playing with his li’l bud in the shower. The man is a buffoon with access to enough fire power to sink the entire planet. Once I stop taking the P out of the guy I can’t help but feel afraid.
George W’s leadership style is that of a nerdy uncle. He goofs up and then tries to make it look deliberate. He shrugs off his many social gaffes as a bit of light entertainment to amuse the press and the man on the street. Don’t ask me about Iraq, ask me about my juggling. See, when I tripped over the carpet it was deliberate; it’s called slapstick; it’s too buoy up the troops. Yeah right. Nobody in their right mind would want David Brent to be their boss let alone their president. Not even dumb-ass, Jerry-Springer-watching Americans. How can the US troops in Iraq have any faith that George W Bush is going to get them out of that hell hole safely when he can’t even get himself out of a news conference without going through the wrong door?
The man is a liability. And unfortunately that makes America a liability. Especially in the stakes for world peace. And that’s bad for absolutely everybody.
If America is ever going to become the force for peace, goodness and freedom that it constantly dreams of being it needs to choose its next president with a darn sight more care, consideration and sophistication than it chose its last one...
For all our sakes.
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