posted January 25, 2007 11:25 AM              

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Soon after he leaves office, biographies will begin to appear about President Bush, and no doubt he will produce a volume of memoirs.

Fairly rapidly historians will move in with their considered, long-term judgments. I will be eager to read these books, because no one since Richard Nixon has been such a mysterious personality.

We've all had a chance to observe Bush closely, and insofar as the private person can be assessed, he displays a set of strange characteristics. Here is a long list of them, offered in a sense of genuine bafflement.

He sleeps well at night over a war that deeply disturbs most Americans. He is baffled by the notion that secret prisons, the use of torture, and indefi-nitely detaining "enemy combatants"without charge could be immoral or unAmerican.

He appears happy-go-lucky about his legacy and has no qualms about pursuing the Iraq war, against complete opposition if need be.

He is friendly to reporters and well liked by them.After toppling Saddam Hussein, he became bored and impatient with the Iraqis. He shows no trace of remorse for destroying their country.

By the same token, he showed no real concern for the victims of Katrina and took a long time, under pressure, to make any kind of pseudo-compassionate speech from New Orleans.

He is mainly cheerful and except for his furrowed brow never seems depressed, by anything.

Although considered too weak for politics by his mother, and never encouraged to succeed, he knew inside that he would achieve great things.

He smirks habitually except in the most dire crisis. It is difficult to tell if this is a mark of smugness, shyness, or contempt.

Elements of all three seem to be mixed in him. He loves his family without criticism. He doesn't gloat over his more intelligent and talented older brother.

He is prone to sulking, petulance, and temper tantrums. Mistreating underlings is more acceptable to him than arguing with equals.

Policy details totally bore him.The kind of people he respects are real men. The kind of women he wants around must adore him.

He entered office talking like a centrist ("a uniter, not a divider") but rapidly effected the most divisive right-wing agenda in American history. This about-face doesn't strike him as immoral or deceptive.

He is possibly the least compassionate man to hold the presidency but has no guilt about claiming to be a compassionate conservative.

He feels un-self-conscious about his inability to speak well or to use English correctly. He is unembarrassed not to know much about the world, or where other countries are on the map.

He is happy to help out the oil industry as frequently as possible but feels indifferent to global warming and the enormous price we will pay for it.

He feels that he has won every presidential debate no matter how embarrassing his performance in them actually was.

In the same vein, he calmly ran for president and accepted the office casually, as if it was his due all along.
With no discernible achievements in life, he expected the highest rewards.

While demonstrably doing all he could to escape service in Vietnam, he considers himself an arch patriot and militant nationalist.

He seems to read books avidly, and many are the same books read by serious people. He seems to have had no reaction to the widespread perception that his presidency was a failure before 9/11.

After 9/11 he was reborn as a 'wartime president' in a war named solely by himself.

He has no conscience about playing upon the worst fears of the public and fanning them when it suits his purposes.
In difficult situations, such as deciding to go to war, he ignores any advice that doesn't agree with his own
preconceived notions, even when those are narrow and uneducated.

He believes in the neoconservative world view and has no patience for any other.He thinks that lying to the public is a worthy tactic, uses it often, then backs off the lie without comment or apology.

He seems uncomfortable with people who aren't like-minded cronies, but if forced to meet them, he wants to please them.

After pretending to listen to their advice, he returns precisely to where he began.He likes keeping secrets from
the public and never discloses his own decision process.

He may genuinely feel that God guides him personally. He most certainly feels that God wanted America to invade Iraq.
As a reader, I won't be satisfied with any biography that papers over these contradictions.

George Bush bids fair, like Nixon before him, to leave office under a dark cloud and surrounded by bitter criticism. Yet in the end it's more important to try and understand a man who for better or worse has embodied eight years of America's national history.

In some mysterious way he is the projection of what millions of people wanted America to be.

The writer has authored books on spirituality and holistic health

posted January 25, 2007 01:15 PM            

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He feels un-self-conscious about his inability to speak well or to use English correctly. He is unembarrassed not to know much about the world, or where other countries are on the map.

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