Bush the Narrator
Posted at 1:50 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2005, in Uncategorized, and tagged bush.
One of my all-time favorite Homer Simpson lines is, “What are you, the narrator?” Homer said this to Lisa as the Simpson family battled robots at Itchy and Scratchy Land and Lisa had stated the obvious.
George W. Bush has openly abandoned his duties as chief executive of this nation and has opted for chief narrator. Bush had just completed his 60-day barnstorming tour touting his non-existent Social Security plans in scripted invitation-only events, and he’s going back for more. (He simply doesn’t get it.)
On April 14, in a speech at the American Society of Newspaper Editors Convention, Bush said…
“I got a lot more time to tell people that there is a problem.”Source: CNN.com
And during his most recent press conference (we can still count the total number of press conferences he has had on our hands), Bush said…
“For the past 60 days I’ve traveled our country making it clear to people we have a problem. That’s the first step of any legislative process is to explain to the people the nature of the problem.”Source: CNN.com
There is a critical step Bush is missing in his idea of “the legislative process” – an idea. Present the American people with an idea, and the people will like it or hate it. And we move on: the House debates the idea, and makes changes, as necessary; the Senate debates the House bill, and make changes, as necessary. The House and Senate meet to pass identical bills. And voilà, the bill is on the White House doorstep.
But that is not what Bush wants, however. Bush wants drama – a deadlocked Congress, a do-nothing Democratic party; voter outrage, a demand for Social Security reform from the electorate. Then Bush could push through any bill with ease and without any pain of explaining a non-existent plan.
Mr. Bush, quit narrating and start governing.
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