Editor,
I am requesting a few minutes of your time to consider the validity of my interpretation of the meaning of two of George Bush's statements, and the answer to two questions that come into my mind from time to time:
1. Bush said after his re-election: "I now have political capital and I'm going to use it." My interpretation: "I do not have to heed the 'will of the people,' and I can force my will on the people."
2. Bush said: "A dictatorship would be a lot easier, no question about it." My interpretation: "I would prefer to be the 'head man' in a dictatorship. Then I would not have to deal, in a compassionate manner, with people who are trying to thwart my efforts to force my will on all the people."
Do these sound like statements that a man dedicated to bringing peace into the world would make?
If you think there is any possibility that my interpretation of these two statements is valid, consider the insight of the schoolteacher who compared Bush with Adolph Hitler. Hitler used fear to gain approval from the people, to place himself in a position of almost absolute authority over the people. Is it possible that Bush desires to do the same thing?
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For many months, I have wondered if Bush is one of those individuals who has a perception of how the world should be in his head, and refuses to observe how the world really is. He then tries to force the world to conform to or contort into the perception he has in his head.
People of this sort are easy to identify because the basic principle they are living by is: "Don't try to confuse me with facts - my mind is made up and I am not going to change it."
Bush does seem to have one great strength - public relations. This strength seems to have lost its ability to mask his weaknesses - which are all other activities other than public relations - so his weaknesses are becoming evident to all of us, friends and enemies.
Until now, I have not been able to verify my suspicion about this. Now the Dubai Port World company said this month that it will turn over the ownership of American ports to an American firm, it will be interesting to see if Bush will allow the Dubai company to back off on the deal.
Oops - I almost forgot. There are some people in this country who think that the real reason Bush was so insistent about the Dubai deal was that he and his friends would profit from that deal.
If that is true, maybe Bush will still get what he wants from this port deal if the American company that ends up managing the ports is one that he and his friends are invested in.
Robert Gardiner
Daily Lobo reader
