…Throw stones in a glass house. President Bush, as quoted in the Washington Times:
President Bush yesterday implored the United Nations to rid itself of corruption and scolded the global body for squandering the world’s respect and making a mockery of human rights. “When this great institution’s member states choose notorious abusers of human rights to sit on the U.N. Human Rights Commission, they discredit a noble effort and undermine the credibility of the whole organization,” Mr. Bush told the U.N. General Assembly. In past years, Libya and Sudan have served on the commission. “If member countries want the United Nations to be respected and effective, they should begin by making sure it is worthy of respect,” he said.
It’s an extraordinary statement considering the recent past human rights abuses revealed at Abu Ghraib, such corporate scandals as Enron, the no bid awarding of contracts to Halliburton in both Iraq and Louisiana, the onging and spiraling ever downward war in Iraq and finally, how the reality of these failures are reflected in Bush’s own falling poll numbers in the USA.
The policies of the Bush Administration have burnt nearly all of the respect the US once had around the world. The incompetance they have foisted upon the US and the world is coming home to roost.
When Bush speaks about the squandering of respect and making a mockery of human rights, he knows of what he speaks. It’s a sad time for this great nation. We are saddled with a President who utters such words without an understanding of how hyperbolic, hypocritical and truly revealing those words really are, nor any understading of how those words are dripping with embarrassing irony. We should all be ashamed he is allowed to speak for us.
He is a sad clown. It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words. Tis most true. And, two pictures speak volumes. These show a man detached from the events before him, unable to feign interest, unwilling to sit up in his chair like the prince he wishes to be, slouching before the world, every second of wanting to be elsewhere, of disgust, of disrespect and of ill temperment and boredom etched into his face for all to see. Petualant, uncurious, uninvolved and uninterested.
Such behavior is of a child, not of a person who warrants respect amongst the leaders of the entire world. This is how far we have gone. Most of us have been aware of this situation for a very very long time. The hard core beleivers will hold onto their idol to the very end. It is what they do. For them, there is no consideration of contrary reality nor the facts. For them, he will always be “The Prince”. But, for those of us who understand that the security of our nation depends upon our relations with and respect amongst the world of nations, the man currently in power garners no respect, no integrity and has not earned it in any way shape or form.
And, that is a shame. Many have said that Bush is not a smart man, and I’ve always defended him in that regard, for it is clear that he is indeed quite smart in many ways. But, in the most important he is ignorant.
Success as a leader and as a nations standard bearer requires more than propaganda and good intentions. It requires an intellect and the ability and desire to engage ideas and solutions from a broad spectrum. It also requires the ability to deal with bad news and dissent in order to foster solutions.
The truth is, sometimes the best solutions are those we do not see, or agree with, or come from difficult ideas or circumstances.
It is well established that Bush is not a man who entertains ideas not his own or which conflict with his ideals.
That is unfortunate, and it is the mark of a truly foolish man. A man who is too arrogant to understand his own weaknesses, for we all have them, work with his strengths and nurture the strengths of those around him, from all ideological perspectives. That is the basis of true intelligence: the ability to marshall many people and ideas and bring them together to create something new and progressive in order to solve a problem, initiate a solution and move onto the next. All facts to date, from 9/11, to the economy, to foreign relations, to New Orleans show Bush to be a man of limited abilities in this regard. And, when in a room of leaders and thinkers, he is disengaged.
Remember when the President of the United States was the smartest man in the room?
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