Is it 2008 Yet?

Another day, another chance for my mind to wander inexplicably without ever resting on one coherent thought for more than a millisecond.

First of all, a friend cheerfully informed me last night that Rumsfeld and Tenet were being brought up on war crimes charges in Germany, but alas, I can't locate a single news item on this. Until I have a chance to ask Aaron where he obtained his information, I'll have to put it to you to enlighten me. Anyone?

Second, am I the only one astounded at Dubya's unprecedented chutzpah in thanking Canadians for deftly handling our re-routed 9/11 air traffic THREE BLOODY YEARS after the fact? On CNN this morning, they showed a brief clip of Dubya's little speech there, in which he made light of the hundreds of protesters by saying something to the effect of "Many of the people who greeted me at the airport waved, some even using all five fingers." Then he laughed, visibly uncomfortable but at the same time, obviously proud of his own joke (which was, no doubt, written for him... you can tell by the way he smirks like a proud child after making the grown-ups laugh). I was nauseated.

Why, why, why must we accept such an embarrassingly dim bulb as our president, our nation's highest representative? Clinton was even more deserving of the "redneck" label than W, but Bill, in comparison, is vastly intelligent, never requiring a rich daddy's influence to educate himself, land a job, or endear himself to his fellow Americans and others. Rather, he became an enormous success through his own efforts and on his own merits.

Each time I attempt my daily crossword, I am equally furious and disheartened by the disquieting notion that our president likely could not correctly answer as many clues as I can, even with my comparably lackluster university education (I'm no privileged Yalie!). My brother put it perfectly years ago, when he remarked, "I just can't respect a president who I don't believe is smarter than I am." Or, for that matter, smarter than any of my family, my friends, or the majority of people with whom I've been acquainted throughtout my life (including that toothless guy at the gas station). We could take comfort in the fact that dim bulbs are generally, historically incapable of devising evil plots or initiating unprovoked power grabs on their own. That's why lucky Dubya's got Rove, Cheney, Rice and the rest of the hawks shamelessly puckering up. Dissenters, beware!

Hard as I try to remain indifferent and shield myself from the news for fear of becoming even more disenchanted, I am not satisfied when I'm not informed and can't keep up with conversation. Out drinking with friends last night, what did we discuss? Politics, naturally. Oh, and the weather. Apparently the white rooftops I've awakened to on several recent mornings are not typical of winter here. But this is good news for me, someone nostalgic for the dozen white (often dirty, slushy) New York winters littering her memory. 3,000 miles from what I generally consider "home," I'll take what I can get.

Posted by ayelet at December 1, 2004 10:02 AM