Alloyed Praise for W

Alloyed Praise for W

If irony is chief product of government, then 2006 may be a landmark of federal efficiency. Just as the President’s popularity plumbs the depths below the possibility of leadership he seems finally to be getting his positions right. In order to reverse his slide in the polls, I offer three recent positions on which I stand by the commander-in-chief.
The scandal of the Dubai Ports deal was not the possibility of Middle-Easterners unloading boats in the U.S., but the perfect liberation of prominent public figures from the bonds of shame. That ships. ships which will be loaded where and as they were before, not inspected according to current practice and sail into U.S. harbors as they always have, would be unloaded by the American employees of a company based in Dubai was no issue at all and the President was right to defend the transaction. The treachery of Senators Clinton and Frist should be remembered during their upcoming Presidential campaigns. Anyone prepared to vote for either may as well run themselves, having demonstrated the requisite character and wit.
On the matter of immigration, once the demagoguery is done, morality and practicality each demand a society open to hard-working people, just so as they don’t run for President. Securing the borders so the government knows who’s coming and going makes sense. So does a pathway to citizenship for the coming. Those in Congress who have proposed the anti-immigration bill are of a scurrilous sort as old and tired as dust. The first duty of citizenship is to promote the good citizenship of ones neighbors. This is the entire moral framework of a republic. Bush is right on immigration and stood up to his own party. The irony of the opposing position is that it is built on the fear of people speaking Spanish and peddling labor for short dollars as opposed to double-talk and integrity for nickels like a native Congressman. To Senators Frist, Schumer and Clinton, do add Representatives Sensenbrenner and Tacredo on the list of irredeemable reprobates.
I could have sworn there was a third thing I agreed with the President on lately. Oh, well. The truth about George W. Bush is that he never should have been President. He lacks the judgement to lead well, the humility to manage, the discretion to navigate a complex world and the expansive vision to simplify the complex rather than the reverse. After six years of training for that role, however, he has become one of America’s finest Senators.
Special Bonus Rant: As we were discussing Bill Frist, the scoundrel princess, it must be added that, although not a new low for him, his latest action is special. Frist proposed this week to tap the oil reserves in the Alaskan National Wilderness Reserve (ANWR) and the Federal budget to give us each $100 if we shut up about it. I can only hope that ANWR offers a richer vein. The question as to whether to drill in ANWR deserves more and better consideration than it has received but the bribe is to insure that never occurs. Dr. Frist should realize before expecting us to put questions out of our minds for $100 that the overwhelming majority of Americans are not in congress.

The Prattler Wordbook
LOBBYIST, n. In Washington, a corrupter of government and subverter of democracy belonging to the middle rank.
MOLLYCODDLE, v.t. To treat the other neighbor as we would be treated.
NEFARIOUS, adj. Foreign.
OVERPLAY, v. To hide aces in the sleeve for a hockey match.
PALATABLE, adj. In a solution of bile, battery acid and other bad humors dilute enough for oral administration.
QUALIFIED, adj. From a good family.
From Waking Ambrose
RESOLUTE, n. Indifferent, insular and in charge.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

From the collection of Richard Samuel West / Periodyssey.