Dear Friend and Reader,
ITSВ ALMOST OVER. President George W. Bush said goodbye to the nation tonight on national television. InВ five days, Barack Obama will take the oath of office as the nation’s first African AmericanВ President of the US.В ItsВ a dream come true.В Finally a President who is aВ realВ and bright personВ who adores and treasures hisВ beautiful family, who listens and wants to help, who asks questions and actually speaks to us as people.
After eight years ofВ our country married to Bush,В I feel like a new bride hours before the wedding ceremony, ready to start again, dressed beautifully in myВ white gown and gloves. ButВ I’m alsoВ holding the veil and retching in the bathroom. After that last bad marriage, I’m having a panic attack.
A submerged rageВ now resides in me after two Bush terms, a rageВ similar to thatВ of a wife who has survivedВ serious physical and psychological abuse at the hands of her husband. Under Bush, our government dismantled laws guaranteeing civil rights and the Bill of Rights. The Constitution? Just another piece of paper. We tortured peopleВ В from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo. We engaged in a non-provoked, pre-emptive war in Iraq.В Our treasury wasВ looted by Administration cronies. War profiteers and weapons consultants held reign in the nation’s capital. It’s going to take a long time to fix the mess we’re in. В If you believedВ America turned into a Banana Republic under Bush’s watch, you were right.
Even as we joyously endВ Bush’s era, we are still as conflicted asВ our leaders in Congress, especially our Democratic ones.В They seem to have finallyВ found their voices but are now scrutinizing every move, every decision the new guy Obama makes even before he is President.В Congress isВ experiencingВ its own form of panic attack before they put on the wedding veil. But where was this same level ofВ scrutiny from these leaders during the last eight years? How could we elect someone like this—twice? How wasВ Bush able to get away, abetted,В with ruining our country and its standing in the world?
In “It’s the Language, stupid!” – The Frightening Secret to Bush’s Success ‘ – Renana Brooks explains:В
Bush’s language structure is similar to the communication structure of an abusive personality.The goal of any abusive personality is domination, to make their targets do things that they otherwise would not do. Abusers typically use language to create a black and white world where catastrophe is the only perceived alternative to following their demands.
The abusive personality uses controlling language to gain hold over others and uses a variety of negative techniques to destroy their will to resist. If the target buys into the negative framework then they quickly lose touch with their goals, dreams, and vision of the future. In this hopeless state they will tend to develop a powerful need that can only be satisfied by giving all power to the abuser.
The hallmark of the abusive personality is the need to cast itself as the savior though personalization, creating a dependency dynamic. In order to present himself as the only man for the job, Bush uses personalization to contrast his positive “optimistic” personality with the difficult times at hand. Bush openly identifies himself as the only person capable of producing positive outcomes, even when the actions required are vaguely understood.
TonightВ Bush characterized his eight yearsВ as aВ success in keeping our country free from further attack. He did so with certitude. He pronounced againВ that history will vindicate him in the end. HeВ willВ cling to that belief for aВ long, long time. There will be no looking back. He will be certain. He will be sure.
In order to bring thisВ waltz with the dictator –В our abusive relationship with Bush to closure,В we need to look to see the monster for who he truly is: a small, frightened, man who was willingly led by a cabal of munitions, oil and banking profiteers who nearly succeeded inВ ruining not only our country,В but killingВ countless others across the planet. This monster believed he was right, and counted on usВ to lose ourselves in order for himВ to succeed in what he wanted.В We just neededВ faith. In him.
Tonight, after watching him, let’sВ look at ourselves. We allowed our country and the world to beВ under the thrall of this man. And we know why. And now that’s done, there isВ much to do to repair the damage. In November 2008, weВ did do the right thing, electing someone to lead us out of the mess we’re in.В He knows and we know its going to take a while. In the long run, it will be worth it.В
Take one last peek at GeorgeВ before splashing some cool water on our faces, and re-touching the lipgloss. It’s over. Its time for usВ to put on the veil again. We’ve traded up.В
Just say goodbye, George. The show must go on.В
Yours & truly,
Fe Bongolan
San Francisco
Having had the weekly horoscopes forwarded to me by a friend before, I remember clearly the day I decided to pay for a subscription to Planet Waves. It was the day GWB was voted into office a second time. I haven’t looked back since. There will be more than one coming of age this week.
So long, GW, as they say, and thanks for all the fish!
Arnie:
Well said about a 9-11 commission. That is what I hope history books, cuirrent day will focus on. I’m tired of history written by the victor. We need history written as fact. Its a good thing we do live in an age of cell phones with video cams and You Tube. Its long past time for us to seriously record history as it happens.
Personally, I always thought the Bush was nothing more than a muppet and the real power was somewhere hidden out of sight. All the power taken by his administration was because of the 9/11 fiasco. So the way I see it, the only time we can say there has been a change is when 9/11 is properly investigated, otherwise it’s really just more of the same lies and assumptions.
Interesting that another Bin Laden tape is doing the rounds (right on cue) and he never said goodbye to his old mate. God knows who is really doing these tapes.
Very interesting with the analysis of an abusive relationship. Derrick Jensen uses the same type of analysis to look at our ‘civilization’ as such, how those in positions of authority / power use the very techniques, how the people behave in the role of the abused, and how you can talk about anything but the most important thing, the way the relationship is. That’s the first rule. I can’t remember everything he was saying, but his book Endgame vol 1 & 2 says it all very well.
So i would just caution, it is not just Bush who is this way. It is easy to demonize a person and not pay attention to the system that puts that type of person in control.
This is from People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn (another great read that you should check out if you haven’t):
“The presidential election had avoided real issues. It took the usual form of election campaigns, concealing the basic similarity of the parties by dwelling on personalities, gossip, trivialities.”
The funny thing was, he wasn’t talking about 2008. He was talking about 1884. I guess not much really changes. And if you want to disagree on the basic similarity of the parties/candidates, remember Obama and McCain both voted yes for the bailout, both times. And Obama’s secretary of state has toed the Bush line of ‘we don’t talk with Hamas’. All this before he is sworn in. Perhaps a signal of what is to come?