LAT op-ed: The bubble boy in the Oval Office "is treated by everybody around him as...a child."

[DeepModem Mom]

Jonathan Chait
The bubble boy in the Oval Office
Try to mend Iraq all you want; just don't tell Bush the war was a mistake.
December 10, 2006

THERE IS a famous "Twilight Zone" episode about a little boy in a small town who has fantastical powers. Through the misuse of his powers, the little boy has ruined the lives of everybody in the town — for instance, teleporting them into a cornfield, or summoning a snowstorm that destroys their crops. Because anyone who thinks an unhappy thought will be banished, the adults around him can do nothing but cheerfully praise his decisions while they try to nudge him in a less destructive direction.

This episode kept popping into my head when I was reading about President Bush and the Baker-Hamilton commission. Bush is the president of the United States, which therefore gives him enormous power, but he is treated by everybody around him as if he were a child.

Consider a story in the latest Time magazine, recounting the efforts — before the commission was approved by Congress — of three supporters to enlist Condoleezza Rice to win the administration's approval for the panel. Here is how Time reports it:

"As the trio departed, a Rice aide asked one of her suitors not to inform anyone at the Pentagon that chairmen had been chosen and the study group was moving forward. If Rumsfeld was alerted to the study group's potential impact, the aide said, he would quickly tell Cheney, who could, with a few words, scuttle the whole thing. Rice got through to Bush the next day, arguing that the thing was going to happen anyway, so he might as well get on board. To his credit, the President agreed."

The article treats this exchange in a matter-of-fact way, but, what it suggests is completely horrifying. Rice apparently believed that Bush would simply follow the advice of whoever he spoke with. Therefore the one factor determining whether Bush would support the commission was whether Cheney or Rice managed to get to him first.

And now that the Baker-Hamilton report is out, the commissioners are carefully patronizing the commander in chief. As this newspaper reported, "Members of the commission said they were pleased that Bush gave them as much attention as he did, a full hour's worth. 'He could have scheduled us for 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for the cameras,' said former Atty. Gen. Edwin M. Meese III." Wow, a commission devoted hundreds or thousands of man-hours to addressing the central conundrum of U.S. foreign policy, and the president gave them a whole hour of his time!...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-chait10dec10,0,4015264.column?coll=la-home-commentary

[smirkymonkey]

1. Bubble Boy?

Bwahahahaha....:rofl:

That's a keeper.

Who's going to be the one to pop the bubble and give junior a little taste of reality?

[achtung_circus]

41. .

http://www.internetweekly.org/2004/10/cartoon_bush_bubble_boy.html

[calimary]

Holy COW - what a piece!

"Yes, Mr. President, it's good that you turned Iraq into a Hobbesian inferno of Al Qaeda terrorists and Islamist death squads. It's really, really good!"

Holy Cow.

But I must add, it pleases me GREATLY to see pieces like this being written, mainstream, now. Pleases me GREATLY. We're on our way, guys! It's actually happening! Now is no time to become complacent and think our work is done, though. It's only gotten started.

Keep your eyes on the prize!

[Kahuna]

2. Ah, the Twilight Zone episode with Billy Mumy! Mumy was a bully..

in that episode too. Does remind me a little of chimpolini.

[EstimatedProphet]

12. That episode was the first thing I thought of when the ISG reported!

It's a perfect analogy

[bananas]

20. I forgot, how does that episode end?

Does it foretell our future?

[louis-t]

21. The movie version ended with a girl who takes an interest

in him and they disappear into the sunset with flowers springing up behind them. I can't remember how the tv version ended.

[EstimatedProphet]

27. The TV version ended like this:

Guy at his birthday party gets drunk and starts trying to convince everyone to kill Billy Mumy, and they are all too afraid. Billy Mumy turns him into a jack-in-the-box and sends him to the cornfield. Everyone tells him what a good thing he did, he then makes it snow, and his father complains that it will kill the corn, but then backs off and talks about what a good thing it is. Very much like Our Great Leader.

[intaglio]

48. The original story was "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby

... and it did not end happily. One of the most depressing stories I ever read :scared:

[Kolesar]

56. We read that story in High School literature

We had a course where we read science fiction from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Science-Fiction-Hall-Fame-One/dp/0765305372

[Roland99]

67. So did I! I still have those volumes of S-F works!

:D

[Kolesar]

69. Born of Man and Woman

I can still remember my very animated and dramatic teacher reciting the lines about "drip green".

[EstimatedProphet]

85. Oh yeah! I remember that one too!

[donco6]

93. Didja ever read "Microcosmic God"?

I think it's in the same series of Sci Fi books. Fantastic story.

South Park did a ripoff of it a few years ago.

[EstimatedProphet]

84. Damn good short story

[MetaTrope]

50. The perfect metaphor for the administration that "makes its own reality"

and does so simply through the exercise of raw petulant power, rather than an offering of ideas.

[leftchick]

57. thanks for the recap

I think. :scared:

[AllegroRondo]

61. The "New" Twilight Zone revisited the story 30 years later

with Bill Mumy again playing the part of the spoiled child.

The entire world has been wished away, except for the small town and a few dozen inhabitants, who still praise everything the boy does and live in constant fear that they too will be wished away.
Mumy's daughter, about 6 years old, finds that she has the same power he does. Several people conspire to get her to wish Mumy away.

[Miss Chybil]

77. And so we have a new name for Bush... Billy Mumy.

He likes to give people nicknames so much, I think Billy Mumy fits him perfectly.

[AllegroRondo]

78. I think Bill Mumy would take that as an insult

[Miss Chybil]

88. Who cares what Bill Mumy thinks?

LOL!

[Leopolds Ghost]

95. ZOT! ;-)

(RimJob - er - Bush - er - Bill Mumy wishes Mrs Chybil away)

[Bucky]

81. Are you suggesting the cure for the Bush insanity is to elect Jenna president?

What a horrid, horrid thought. And she's the nice one!

[No Exit]

91. Wait... Jenna's not the "nice" one! (?)

I thought her sister "Not-Jenna" was the nice one!

This is confusing!

[No Exit]

92. I just pictured a jack-in-the-box with the face of Donald Rumsfeld!

[Shipwack]

66. They actually did a sequel to it

The sequel was set a few decades later, "It's Still a Good Life". Bill's character has become a father (I shudder to think of the back story of -that-). If this does foretell our future, watch out for the twins...

[senseandsensibility]

3. He IS a child

so of course he is treated that way. The adjective that always pops into my head when I am forced to think about him is "infantile."

[lolly]

4. Well, it's not as bad as those lefty bloggers

Isn't Chiat one of those who threw a tizzy fit because some people wrote some not-nice comments on a left-leaning blog somewhere--maybe Atrios? IIRC, he was s-o-o-o dismissive of those horrible uncivilized people who say mean things about Bush and his enablers (including a few supposedly "liberal" pundits like himself).

Because, as we all know, when a sociopathic child is destroying the country and all our civil rights, what's most important is that we all act civil about it.

[indepat]

5. Those who pull the strings have saddled the fate of our Republic, maybe the world and

civilization itself to one man and has dream, a man "treated by everyone around him as..a child." And the past three Congresses have figuratively jumped through their collective assholes to assuage every whim of this seemingly petulant "child." Is it time to turn the keys over to the adults? :shrug:

[rodeodance]

6. jr IS a child.

[opihimoimoi]

7. The BubbleBoy holds the USA Hostage with his extreme IGNORANCE/STUBBORNESS

The wreckage strewn about the country side is mounting...and Bush/GOP is to Blame...they have fucked up big time...

Its time to let go this dufus of a dude...

[grasswire]

8. excellent, thanks (eom)

[elehhhhna]

9. The Hallmark of a Lazy Boss: Whoever talks to him first, wins.

Y'all have seen it a million times in real life.

Why are we puzzled when Mister MBA Prezzydent does it?

[eShirl]

55. like Mr. Carlson of "WKRP"

they both have dragonlady mothers, too

[alfredo]

10. I never thought this would happen to our country.

[mwb970]

11. Bush has to go. It's a matter of national security.

He is obviously mentally ill, or at least emotionally disturbed, and is clearly incapable of leading the nation. I don't know if it will be impeachment, a Nixonian resignation, or some other form of exit, but it's a fact: Bush must go.

[opihimoimoi]

13. FTSOON...he gatta go...for the sake of our Nation, the dude must be removed soon.

[Tansy_Gold]

35. It's not a matter of removing booooosh alone

Far more important is the issue of disconnecting him from his power source.

I've always believed there was something just not right about the whole Cheney thing, and I think we've all seen Cheney as a VP with far, far, far too much power in this administration. Cheney's the rogue, the loose cannon, the evil fucking bastard with feet in both camps. He was, I suspect, supposed to be the bridge between the 41 regime and the 43+ regime, perhaps to shoe-horn the real heir -- Jeb -- in as 44. But Cheney proved to powerful even for the senior booshies and he used junior's madness for his own ends.

Who, after all, is profiting handsomely from the continuation of the war? Who is least likely to want it to end? Who doesn't give a flying fuck about the rest of the world, and certainly not about us/U.S.??

Cheney is the one who has to go. And the nice thing about that is it won't be seen as nearly the "constitutional crisis" impeachment of a sitting president would be. Once Cheney is gone, boooooosh himself, and his oedipal madness, will be much easier to manipulate/control.

Just my 2 centavos.

TG

[Hekate]

43. Impeach Cheney first. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

40. The technical term is "personality disordered."

"He is obviously mentally ill, or at least emotionally disturbed"

[Felinity]

51. I believe that,

to be technically correct, that would be several personality disorders.

[Jackpine Radical]

60. Personality Disorder NOS with antisocial and narcissistic features.

[rhiannon55]

73. Narcissistic Personality Disorder,

Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Low to borderline IQ, Alcoholism--they ALL fit.

The people who handed the power to this sick puppy ought to be brought up on charges themselves for endangering the world.

[Felinity]

90. Thanks for the detail

But what about megalomania? And sadistic tendencies? Are they additional to or a part of the above?

It's just that I like to know, in professional terms, exactly what the guy with the Big Red Button is handicapped with.

[young_at_heart]

14. Bush doesn't care how history will treat his presidency

Remember when someone asked him about his legacy and his response was "I'll be dead". I guess an adult child might say such a thing.

[MADem]

15. Condi Rice's small redemption song.....

Rice got through to Bush the next day, arguing that the thing was going to happen anyway, so he might as well get on board. .... Therefore the one factor determining whether Bush would support the commission was whether Cheney or Rice managed to get to him first.

[kentuck]

16. The "Bubble Boy in the White House" ?

Perfect!

[The Count]

17. The episode was called "It's a Good LIfe" (bubble boy title confuses metaphors)

http://imdb.com/title/tt0734580/
I had watched it in recent years and always thought it a perfect metaphor for W (before that for other dictatorships)
It's the abject fear that really fascinates us, more than the little boy who merely needs validation like any little boy.
The theme was used in Star Trek as well in Charlie X - and a good spanking as well as a deus ex machina intervention cleared that one up.
The lesson in all these morality plays is the same: little boys, even those with powerful toys need adult supervision.
Very little spanking would be needed to send this little guy from the White House running to Crawford. he was about to do just that in 2001, after losing senate, when family friend Osama gave him some new toys to play (fear)

[Gidney N Cloyd]

18. Remember in the sequel the Mumy character got his comeuppance from his daughter.

I don't think Jenna and not-Jenna have it in them, though.

[The Count]

54. There was a sequel? Not of TZ!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

76. There really was a sequel

Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprised their roles. Mumy's real life daughter played his character's daughter who had inherited his powers.

[Dervill Crow]

82. Yup . . .

I was a few minutes into it, and it took a shot of a framed picture from the original show before I realized that Bill Mumy was reprising his role from the original.

Very well done.

We ARE living in the Twilight Zone, aren't we?

[Cha]

19. The corporatemediawhores have

themselves to thank for bubblebrat. Without them there would be no bushites. The American corporatemedia are the worst villians on the Planet. Especially those idiots who endorsed the bubblebrat in 2004.

And fauxsnews is in existence to promote the lies of bubblebrat and those who mollycoddle him. Hell, they even snatched a fauxsnews liar to be the press secretary. What a tragic farce.

[Patiod]

70. The L.A. Times knew all of this before it was "safe" to pile on

Back before the invasion of Iraq, they told their reporters not to focus on the negatives.

Now, for some reason, it's "safe" to pile on, so NOW they're allowed to point out the emperor's nudity.

[TahitiNut]

22. The similarities between Chimpy and Kim Jong Il just keep cropping up.

How can anyone not see it? :shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. They'll have an easier time thinking

Nixon... and they are there too

[bridgit]

23. i would normally say that the disintegration of a human mind is a tragic...

empathy filled moment in time; but in g.w. bush's case i say he should reap what he has sown, being wannabe boy king/caesar/tyrant to the world is more complex than ordering pretzels from room service, let bush pay the price for failing to understand the human condition

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. This is scary at many levels

but more parallels to Nixon

[janx]

26. WHERE is the Time article?

I've been looking all over for it and can't find it.

[bananas]

68. Here you go

I googled part of the first sentence quoted in the article.

Google cache link with first sentence highlighted:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:nfJh3lQyUa4J:www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1565529-4,00.html+%22As+the+trio+departed,+a+Rice+aide+asked+one+of+her+suitors+not+to+inform+anyone+at+the+Pentagon%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4&client=opera

Direct link to the Time article (page 4 which contains the quote):
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1565529-4,00.html

[Cleita]

28. So we have a temper tantrum throwing three year old in the WH?

Why did it take so long for this realization to come about?

[pinto]

29. Good take on the decider that didn't, and chilling in its implications.

[pacalo]

30. This TZ episode has been running through my mind for quite awhile...

From Oct. 17, 2006: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2418128&mesg_id=2418511

Keith & Jonathan's conversation reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode...

The small town of Peaksville, Ohio, lives in fear. You see a monster inhabits the town and, well, this particular monster doesn't care much for the machines of the modern age (except for airplanes) or contact with the outside world through electricity and what have you, so he's wiped them out...and in effect has cut off Peaksville, Ohio, from the rest of the world (or perhaps has eliminated the rest of the world...no one is certain). This particular monster can read your very thoughts, can feel your very emotions, can eliminate you in the blink of an eye...send you out in the cornfield along with all the other hideous monstrosities he has created. So you have to be wary how you act, how you think, how you look, even how you feel if you encounter said monster or else.

Who is our monster, you ask? Why he's Anthony Fremont...a 6 year old boy with an innocent baby face and the powers to change the world around him at his very will. He hates anyone who doesn't like him or thinks bad thoughts or doesn't like what he likes and can act against him or her as he pleases. A frightening power to be in the hands of someone so young but don't let him hear you think that.

(Edited to add link)

We're living in Peaksville, Ohio, in the Twilight Zone under the dictatorship of a very spoiled rich brat who feels entitled to have everything go his way.

[Tiggeroshii]

31. I saw that today

hilarious.

Well, it would be hilarious if it weren't so true. Unfortunately these times are so grave and damning the best thing we can do for ourselves(besides work to change it) is laugh it off...

[quiet.american]

32. I would never have thought it would be so hard to remove a criminally insane "president." n/t

[mwb970]

33. Maybe the Founders thought it wouldn't happen.

Or is there a provision in the Constitution besides impeachment for a case of mental disability?

If so, does it mention what to do with the people who voted for the Defective One?

[Felinity]

52. I would have thought that

even the Pugs in Congress would have enough integrity to clean up their own mess. But no; too busy feathering their own nests and ignoring the needs of the citizens who pay their salaries.

[Imagevision]

80. a criminally insane "president."? - I think you nailed it!!!!!!!!!!

[w4rma]

34. Jonathan Chait nailed the situation. (nt)

[bleever]

36. It's a real good war, George; real good. Now wish it into the cornfield.

[SeattleGirl]

37. Wow!

:wow:

[Kolesar]

38. Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes, the "court stenographer" of the Bush administration

Chait just totally f'ing emasculated Fred Barnes. So I wrote to Barnes:

In the Los Angeles Times op ed today, Jonathan Chait just totally emasculated you. Read this line:

"Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes, the "court stenographer" of the Bush administration"

He just stated that your content is nothing but a reproduction of the Bush Administration dogma. He is saying that you don't represent independent journalism, and that you don't serve in the proud tradition as envisiaged by the First Amendment. That sounds like something Michael Moore would have said, but it is now becoming common wisdom. I would be humiliated if I were you.

Joe Dirt

And he called President Bush the "bubble boy": http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-chait10dec10,0,4015264.column?coll=la-home-commentary

[omega minimo]

39. And what does this remind you of?:

" "______" got through to "______" the next day, arguing that the thing was going to happen anyway, so he might as well get on board."

That's how the public is treated by politicians and media and each other (here) when Alito, Roberts on SCOTUS, Gates as SecDef, etc. are "going to happen anyway, so we might as well get on board."

[Generic Brad]

42. Poppity-pop-pop-pop!

You just know his fragile self image bubble will eventually burst under the weight of reality.

[Atman]

44. K&R

:kick:

[Canuckistanian]

45. "And for God's sake don't let Cheney hear about this"

Wasn't that the name of an article or blog post lately about this same situation?

[Canuckistanian]

46. Holy cow, did you see this?

And now that the Baker-Hamilton report is out, the commissioners are carefully patronizing the commander in chief. As this newspaper reported, "Members of the commission said they were pleased that Bush gave them as much attention as he did, a full hour's worth. 'He could have scheduled us for 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for the cameras,' said former Atty. Gen. Edwin M. Meese III." Wow, a commission devoted hundreds or thousands of man-hours to addressing the central conundrum of U.S. foreign policy, and the president gave them a whole hour of his time!

From the article, bolding mine.

[Tracer]

59. Yes. And after giving them a WHOLE HOUR ...

... he didn't ask one question. Not one.

According to a post- * interview with Lee Hamilton.

[LuckyLib]

89. He couldn't formulate a question. His brain had been asleep

for 59 minutes.

[Erika]

47. W should be swept up with a broom and tossed in the trash

He never should have been our president.

[blonndee]

49. Kick--I wanna keep this up

This is scary, compelling shit. When this kind of stuff is in corpmedia...

[Vinca]

53. If a certain individual in the oval office needs to be in a rubber room,

how is he removed from office? Seriously. I had a plot in my head for a novel once and it centered around the leader of the free world going off his rocker. Guess that's nonfiction now.

[leftchick]

58. this is just plain fucking scary!

<snip>

Indeed, everybody seems to understand that if you want to help amend the disaster in Iraq, the No. 1 rule is that you can't acknowledge it's a disaster in Bush's presence. Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes, the court stenographer of the Bush administration, recently reported that this was a key factor in the hiring of Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Now, I would bet every dollar I own that Gates thinks the war was a mistake. But you can't say that to Bush. "Before hiring him," Barnes wrote, "Bush had to make sure Gates didn't think America's intervention in Iraq was a mistake."

Yes, Mr. President, it's good that you turned Iraq into a Hobbesian inferno of Al Qaeda terrorists and Islamist death squads. It's really, really good!

:scared:

[AbbyR]

62. We're living a fantasy story

I knew Bush was too bad to be true.

[keroro gunsou]

63. and this is a shock...

how?

i knew that president bush wasn't alltogether the best and the brightest that they could have nominated back in 2000, and his recent antics have lead me to believe him to be in a real state of both arrested development and denial, but this is a shock, a shock i tell you.... it's so hard to convey sarcasm in print form, and the emote-icon here is insufficient.

oh well, could be worse, cheney could be running the show in the open, instead of his man behind the curtain, i mean undisclosed location, act....

like my grandmother might say, "what a yutz."

(edited for quote)

[bumblebee1]

96. I had the same feeling in 2000 also.

I remember thinking, "This is the best presidential candidate the Republicans can come up with? That's not saying much for your party!!" I couldn't believe they dumped McCain for this moron.

[ArmchairMeme]

64. What can be done?

Reading this I was reminded that I just read a few weeks ago that Cheney made a statement that having a Democratic congress would not stop a strike on Iran. This would, in my opinion, be making the entire situation worse. Many writers have given their opninions about that as well. How sane can Cheney be to suggest that at this point in time. Perhaps Cheney should also be viewed at being out of touch with reality. His trip to Saudi Arabia at this time is also an interesting connection. Of course, he has a great deal to gain monetarily from disrupting the oil supply as well as destruction/reconstruction in Iraq for profit of Halliburton, etc.

[BlueEyedSon]

65. "That's a real good thing ya done, Georgie..."

Killin all them eye-rackys and US boys

Packin' the court

Growin' the debt

Makin' torture OK

[butterfly77]

71. Cheney and Rumsfeld are best friends...

they even have houses built close to each other, I believe that they were in the Nixon admin together and they have been running things all along. I also believe that Poppy bush is afraid of the son because he is afraid of setting him off...

[DeepModem Mom]

72. Interesting. Remember that a younger, drunk G.W. asked Poppy...

if he wanted to go mano to mano with him. Bush was a "mean" drunk.

[Virginia Dare]

74. The only special powers that the lil chimp has...

is that Mommy and Poppy have lots of money and "friends" in very high places. The money is probably pretty safe, but one senses that the "friends" are disappearing.

[Felix Mala]

75. I've been thinking of Citizen Kane and the neocons...

Kane's opponent for governor threatens scandal if he doesn't drop out of the race. Kane refuses and the opponent says, "I'm going to have to teach you a lesson, Mr. Kane. You're going to need a lot of lessons."

Bush is no less the arrogant, patrician heir who answers to no one.

Even visiting Vietnam, he and the neocons came out with the wrong conclusions.

They're going to need a lot of lessons, I guess, before this is over.

[Patiod]

79. But Billy Mumy didn't get his powers

from a spineless jellyfish of a Congress. There was no pro-evil majority in that small town.

(can't take credit for this - it was my SO's comment when he read the article)

[valerief]

83. What a FABULOUS analogy. * is JUST like that Twilight Zone

little boy.

:bounce:

[ThoughtCriminal]

86. Somebody here made the EXACT same comparison

to that Twilight Zone episode quite some time ago. I wish I could find the post.

"That's a real good thing that Georgie did!"

[Ned_Devine]

87. I've been making the comparison to that TZ episode for years

It's nice to see someone else do it

[Jade Fox]

94. Brilliant analogy, and completely accurate.

[Quantess]

97. Great article.