The Boy In The White House

I am beginning to think that everything I need to know about President Bush, I can learn from watching my four-year-old son. I see how this little boy of mine craves my attention, but more importantly he seeks my approval and when he gets it, he struts around like a little peacock. He also likes to pretend he’s big and important and with each new popular super-hero, he puffs out his chest and demands to be called by that name. Every time I see our President speak, these same images come to mind, for our leader is nothing more than a little boy trying desperately to be big.

In the 1950’s, mothers taught their daughters how to be good wives by deferring to their husbands wishes, but the smart ones also told their daughters the secret of how to make their husband believe he is in control while getting him to do exactly what she wants. This style of manipulation seemed to work with GWB for the first four years, with the neo-cons allowing Bush to believe he was steering the ship as they rested comfortably in the knowledge that the controls had been cut, and the chief was merely spinning the wheel to no affect. But that was before he acquired his “political capital” that immediately began burning a hole in his pocket. He had finally found the approval he had been seeking; you’d better believe he was going to strut.

What we see now, in his failure to admit mistakes and in his determination to “stay the course” in Iraq is the legend of himself he is carefully constructing for the history books. He is a simple man with simple objectives, that is how he can look at the complexities of foreign policy and the nuances of diplomacy and quickly discern his course of action. For him there are only ever two choices; black or white, right or wrong, good or evil. It is how we all teach our children when they are young and unable to grasp the finer points of decision making. We give them two options so they feel in control although we have already decided that either is fine, having eliminated the less desirable choices. At a certain point our children require more and they no longer fall for the falseness inherent in having only two choices, my four year old is already beginning the process of expanding his thinking and demanding more independence. How sad that our President has not and most likely never will.