No Rest for the Wicked

If you read my previous entry, you could tell that I needed a little break from blogs. So yesterday I didn't read any, and I didn't write anything. And I got a great night's sleep. I haven't read any blogs today, and was perfectly content to write about the baseball pennant races. But tonight I received an e-mail from my mother with an essay written by E.L. Doctorow, titled "The Unfeeling President", which you can find online here. It was written a year ago, but I had not seen it until now. It was very sad to read. For one thing, it was sad to read a professional and realize I have no real skill at this. More importantly, it was sad to think about all the people who have been affected by what I believe to be the misdeeds of George W. Bush, and to realize that he doesn't care.

Doctorow, in the most eloquent way that I've yet seen, succeeds in laying out all of the areas in which people object to this President. You can pick them out of E.L.'s prose one by one:

• intolerance toward dissent
• insincerity
• lack of earnestness
• dishonesty

Perhaps most damning, even more than the way in which the U.S. went to war (and executed the occupation), is how Bush and his Republican Congress have rammed through damaging domestic legislation, much of which might not have had a chance in hell of passing if not for 9/11 and the war. Bush (aka Karl Rove's puppet) has never learned that there is a line between leadership and bullying. I think the American public, in larger numbers, is finally coming around to see Mr. Bush for what he is.

I really did want to have a relaxing, politics-free day. My biggest outrage was that San Diego is under .500 and leading their division by 5.5 games. Just when I thought I was out, they PULL ME BACK IN! Thanks Mom.