Pray for Bush

Tom Maquire posts about the "Blame Bush" syndrome. I wrote in the comments:

For supposedly the most powerful man on the planet, the president doesn't seem to have very much real power. He can't fire anybody except the people he doesn't want to. He can't keep anything secret. The media all despise and abuse him, and now our allies don't trust him. The Congress are running around like scared chickens, and he can't get any bills passed even when everyone agrees they're needed. He goes out of his way to avoid personal conflicts and all he gets is abuse and criticism for not responding in kind.

Why does anybody expect him to be able to prevent stuff like this? When has he ever said that he approved of shocking people through their testicles? And, if he did, why should we think anybody would listen to him.

Like he said yesterday when somebody asked him if he knew any illegal aliens, "I don't think so. I don't think I've hired any, or you would have read about it in the news."

It's really true. He's blamed for high gas prices, for damaging the environment, for Enron and Jack Abramoff, for illegal immigration and so on. I look at him and see a guy who has values pretty much like mine, who tries to live his religion and fulfill his oath of office, who's efficient and hardworking, and who has a leaden tongue. I ask what he's done to deserve all this, and all I can see is that he won a close election.

We are living in a very dangerous time, but we seem more interested in playing gotcha and investigating who leaked Valerie Plame's name than in confronting real danger.