Today’s Washington Post takes a look into the psyche of Bush through his choice of words:
But a survey of transcripts from Bush’s public remarks over the past seven years shows the president’s worsening political predicament has actually stoked, rather than diminished, his desire to proclaim what he cannot abide. Some presidential scholars and psychologists describe the trend as a signpost of Bush’s rising frustration with his declining influence.
In the first nine months of this year, Bush declared more than twice as many events or outcomes “unacceptable” or “not acceptable” as he did in all of 2005, and nearly four times as many as he did in 2004. He is, in fact, at a presidential career high in denouncing events he considers intolerable. They number 37 so far this year, as opposed to five in 2003, 18 in 2002 and 14 in 2001.
Through a spokesman and then in a televised statement, he declared North Korea’s claimed nuclear test “unacceptable” before and after it occurred Oct. 9. But he could also be heard on Jan. 9 lecturing students at an elementary school in Glen Burnie, Md., that their recent scores on math and reading proficiency tests were “unacceptable.”
[SNIP]
Bush’s use of the term “reflects in some ways his frustration with a world that doesn’t seem as amenable to his policies as he would like them to be,” said Stanley A. Renshon, a political scientist at the City University of New York. Bush “has strong views; he believes in doing what is right. All of those things give an emotional force to his response” to events he often sees and describes without nuance.
Remember we are in the Bush world. If people do not agree with every single thing he says they are “unacceptable”. Of course this is the same President that told Americans that it is “unacceptable to think”.
Perhaps what is unacceptable is our President and his poor choice of words in a time when the world is in such delicate balance. Perhaps these items are unacceptable:
- Lying to the American public in order to invade a sovereign nation that had no ties to the attacks which occurred upon us
- Having a commander in chief, who chose to hide from a war he should have fought in over three decades ago, ignore the advice of military minds in the country and keeping our soldiers, our nation, our world, in harms way because he is to proud to do the right thing – say “my plan isn’t working, I am sorry”.
- Having a President who wants to predict what will happen if we remove troops from Iraq, while every other prediction this same President has made on that war has been WRONG!
- Having a President who ignores the Constitution and issues these so called “signing statements” over 750 times to write his own laws or alter the ones passed by the Senate and House.
- Having a President who is working nonstop to destroy everything this nation has stood for over the years. A President who wants to be able to imprison our citizens without their right to face their accusers, or even stand trial. A President who wants to torture people.
- A President who feels he can invade our privacy at every turn. One who feels he can tap our phone calls without the proper oversight of the courts as defined in our Constitution.
So how do we deal with all these “unacceptable” actions of the man in the White House? We get a Congress in power this year that will do the only proper thing – impeach him. This country needs a change of course very badly and that will only start with a change of personnel at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.