The Emperor Has No Brains

Seeing the slow-witted, stammering George W. Bush side-by-side with Britain's Tony Blair, erudite and quick on his feet, made me feel embarassed for my country, and even, not that I thought it was possible, a little sorry for Georgie Boy as well.

But then I consider not only the man's record as president, but his arrogance and impudence while conducting a disastrous six years at the helm. Really, where's the list of his actual accomplishments? What have these folks done right? When asked for his best moment while in office, Bush cites the catching of a big bass in his custom-made backyard lake. The closest thing to a good program that his administration has put forward is the No Child Left Behind Bill, which was so underfunded (while tax cuts for the wealthy and massive corporate giveaways were handed out pell-mell) that many states are now rebelling against the bill's unrealistic bridlements.

But it's becoming clear that we won't have the Republicans running the Congress beginning next year. The coalition strategy put together by the president's main advisor, Karl Rove, and followed by the Republican politicians, is slowly but surely unraveling by the week. Rove realized that if you energized (blatantly manipulated) the evangelical Christians, you'd be more than halfway home to victory. But he hasn't delivered on a gay marriage amendment and it's unclear that his two Supreme Court nominees will make a difference in the abortion issue. Add to this a somewhat strange (though welcome) recent movement among Christian types, apparently growing stronger, that is concerned about environmental degradation, an area that GW and company have done little to nothing about. A poll out last week shows Bush's support among this group dwindling down to 52%, down from almost 80%.

Next in the coalition were the fiscal and small-government conservatives, lifetime Republicans
who voted for Bush not thinking that he would so poorly handle the nation's treasury as to create what most economists say is a dangerous situation, especially with the impending Baby Boomer retirement looming large and expensive. These folks liked their tax cuts but don't like what they see in terms of fiscal irresponsibility and burgeoning new entitlements, specifically the seniors' drug bill.

Which leads to the next group that Karl Rove was counting on, the retirees. Most of them, instead of being grateful toward the Bushies and GOP, are ticked off at the labyrinthian complexity of the drug bill, and many are aware that the bill stipulates that no cost reductions can be negotiated with the pharmaceutical industry, making this a boondoggle that their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be burdened with. This group is also increasingly anti-war, so the Republicans will be lucky to get 40% of them in the next two elections.

Finally, there's the patriotic, low-education, country-music-loving set. (OK, the rednecks.) Most of them are from veterans' families and they like a man who talks tough and kicks ass. Their grasp of world affairs is abysmally simplistic and can be summarized on bumper stickers. They're still mostly with Bush and the Republicans, but getting a bit restless with the Iraq war. They don't like the thought that, militarily, we haven't made a dent in the insurgency, and may have to depart that country in turmoil after incurring over 25,000 casualties. Many of them know soldiers who have been killed or wounded, an alarmingly high number of whom were without adequate protection. And there's also the forced reassignments causing resentments.

When you add up these splits and reductions, and compound the public dissatisfaction with congressional scandals, continuing ineptitude on Katrina victims, no action on healthcare, and high gas prices, it's hard to believe that anything will save the Republicans from losing both the House and the Senate in 2006, and the White House in 2008.