2 September 2003
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again," Who's Next, 1971
In a poll conducted for the New York Daily News last week, New Yorkers are becoming more and more disillusioned with Dubya's War on Terror, as well as their mayor. But let's leave the billionaire Bloomberg alone. Personally, I think he stepped into a huge pile of shit and anyone in his position would be getting hammered just as badly.
No, let's instead focus our attention on King George II. Going into Year Three of the great Bush Renaissance, I don't hold much hope that things will be getting better anytime soon, but then again, this is the government we're talking about. Nothing changes, just the picture on the wall every four or eight years. People that work for the government or run for office do so for one reason: they're too fucking stupid to make it in the private sector. And that's saying a lot, because there are a lot of stupid fucking people in the private sector.
Let's also put this into perspective: the best thing to happen to the Bush presidency was that 3,000 people were killed in one day. I'm not trying to make light of September 11 at all, believe me, but the only reason he had any kind of decent approval at all was his cock-and-balls fuck-the-world attitude after the attacks. Which turned out to be just more political bullshit. At least in Henry V after Henry gave the Saint Crispin's Day speech he did something.
Since Bush has entered office, let's look at the facts: the economy was shit, stayed shit, and is still shit, the war on terror is going about as well as the war on drugs, and after two years, no one can find a six and a half foot tall Arab guy, his friend, or the Wacky Iraqi (ok, only been six months for him). The general public's expectation for the future is bright, only because the present has sucked dick for so long. Terry Anderson would have had "high future expectations" after a few years of being kidnapped in Beirut. When things suck for so long, you either have to have "high future expectations" or you find a razor and draw yourself a hot bath. The Fed has cut interest rates so many times in response to the economy not moving that pretty soon the bank will be paying YOU to refinance your house. Inflation has pretty much stayed put, but this of course is due to (a) Greenspan's policies, and (b) the job market sucking ass. Hard to raise prices when no one has a fuckin' job. Unemployment (6.2%) is the highest it's been in 10 years (6.9%, 1993), and that's important to me because I'm one of the 6.2 percent right now. U.S. peacekeeping policy in Iraq seems to be as effective as a traffic cop at the Holland Tunnel on valium.
Now, let's not forget that I was for the invasion of Iraq, and despite the allegations that Bush and Co. manipulated and fabricated information used to motivate the masses for said invasion, I still think it was the right thing to do. And of course, once again, we're losing the peace. U.S. post-war policy has a long history of failure, and this one seems to be falling right into line. The war on terror is going so well that there haven't been any bombings. This afternoon. So far. And I'm not maligning U.S. troops stationed both in Iraq and elsewhere. It's the policymakers in Washington I'm calling out. You're morons. Always have been, always will be.
All the bitching and griping aside, is ANYONE REALLY surprised that the Bush Administration is doing as sketchy a job as the administrations it succeeded? Bush's approval level is dropping faster than a 70 year-old after the Viagra wears off. It's currently either 59 percent or 61 percent, depending what poll you read. The highest it's been this year was 77 percent, right around the time that Baghdad went on the market for new McDonald's franchise opportunities. Just remember that his dad's was over 90 percent when his administration stomped Saddam in Kuwait. And look how his re-election bid went. Now granted, we - myself included - were all in awe when he walked out like John Wayne in the 2001 World Series despite the fact that there were still smoldering remains a few miles away and 24-hour patrols in the skies, but pomp and circumstance only carries you so far. Just ask Willy Jeff. Bush is a cigar and a hummer away from being Bill Clinton Jr. Charm goes just so far, even in American politics, and then the people who elected you want you to actually fucking DO SOMETHING. It's the same bullshit the American people have put up with for decades. A report that accuses Saudi Arabian involvement in the World Trade Center gets classified for "national security" reasons. Our government is so efficient that they could find a failure to pay a traffic ticket violation on me from five years ago, but they can't find the most wanted man in the world. If the U.S. government had put half the effort into finding al Qaeda that they put into finding shit on their own employees the war on terror would have ended long ago.
The thing is, it doesn't matter who's sitting on Pennsylvania Avenue, it's the same bullshit, year in and year out. It's a soap opera. The Old and the Clueless. You can turn the TV on in twenty years after not watching an episode and it's the same plots, the same shit, just different actors playing the same roles with different names.
