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From
Big Dog to Little Puppy
December
6, 2001
by Max Starsky
I guess we all knew well before "Wonder-Boy" was even selected
to be the president of this great land of ours that he was
somewhat disinterested in the happenings around the world.
The embarrassing sight of Bush not being able to name certain
world leaders when quizzed by a Boston journalist was a rather
frightening experience for us Americans who care whether our
President is intelligent and at least a little interested
and concerned in world events.
Before September 11, Bush was showing his disinterest in
world events by ignoring hotspots like the middle east. Unlike
his predecessor, the last elected President of The United
States, Bill Clinton, who even up to his last minute in office
was desperately seeking a peace deal between the Israelis
and Palestinians, Bush pulled back, not at all interested
in having The United States assist in brokering peace between
those two warring factions.
September 11 changed much of this. Suddenly Bush, who seemed
to take great pleasure in telling other nations to virtually
go to hell and who was pushing the arrogant "we will do as
we please" line (Remember Kyoto? Remember the ballistic missile
treaty with Russia?) was urging the entire world to join him
in his push "to defeat terrorism."
Now with success in Afghanistan looking likely, in the war
aspect of it at least, there are reports starting to surface
that Bush will soon go back to his "Go to hell, we're the
United States and we will do as we please" theme of pre-September
11.
What Bush fails to understand is that with his gung-ho, Texas
cowboy, "we'll do as we please" attitude comes a responsibility
to assist others around the world. It doesn't mean we have
to force our beliefs onto them, as Bush and many right-wingers
believe (ie. Ann Coulter and her "convert them all to Christianity"
nonsense) but it does mean that when we have the opportunity
to assert ourselves in the name of peace, we do so. Like in
the Middle East. Like in Northern Ireland. Where Clinton was
so instrumental, along with Tony Blair, in helping stop years
of bloodshed.
Following the events in Israel on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon gave what could only be described as a rather
important address, one that depending on what he said, could
decide whether there is any hope of peace in that region or
if there will be all out war. Carried live here by CNN and
other news outlets, we could all watch Sharon speak live.
After his speech, CNN crossed live to The White House where
the arrogant Ari Fleischer said that national security advisor
Condaleeza Rice would brief Bush on what Sharon said. Bush
not even bothering to watch Sharon's speech himself!
I may be wrong, but somehow I couldn't see Clinton or Al
Gore doing that. I'd expect they'd be a little more interested
in the events in the middle east.
Times certainly are different now. Wouldn't it be so much
more assuring to have the Big Dog in the White House than
the Little Puppy we have now? And not even a cute puppy at
that!
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