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The Price of Right

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Heaven help us. He still doesn't get it. Even in the face of overwhelming election results to the contrary, W still thinks he is right.

Yes, Rumsfeld is out. We have one big thing to be thankful for. But the speed of W's backpedaling in justifying how this ousting has come about, given that less than a week ago he had declared Rumsfeld was here to stay, makes Miss Gultch, as she furiously backpedaled past Dorothy's window in that Kansas tornado, look like a two year-old on a tricycle.

Why couldn't he just admit that he was wrong? Oh, right-I forgot. He's infallible.

W claims it's all about timing. Apparently he also thinks he is the master of that. Last week, the timing was somehow right for Rumsfeld to stay-no ifs, ands, or buts. Somehow, despite that announcement, W now admits that although it took him " awhile to get around to it," he sat down over the weekend at his ranch in Crawford to "visit" with Robert Gates-presumably about his stepping in to take over from Rumsfeld. (I've noticed that Texans are big on visiting. Must be a very folksy place.) But wasn't Rumsfeld in-and for all time? I guess not, and for that, at least and at last, I am grateful to whatever got through to W on that one-it only took the combined pressure from the army, navy, air force, and marines to finally force his hand.

In further justifying his whiplash 180 from last week, W explained in his characteristically muddled manner, "the timing is now right for Rumsfeld to step down." Last week it was right for him to stay. This week it is right for him to go. Right. Truth is he never should have been in office in the first place, but W will never admit to that. He can't. He's infallible, remember?

Tim Russert thinks that W is rethinking the course to follow in Iraq. I sincerely hope so, but I'm not so sure. W stated emphatically that he would not accept defeat in Iraq. What does that mean? That we continue to send our young men and women to slaughter until they are all gone? I wouldn't put it past W-remember, he is always right, and he's still hell bent to prove it.

On his famous "stay the course" mantra, which he unsuccessfully tried to deny a few days ago, today he said, "stay the course doesn't mean sticking with a course or policy that doesn't seem to be working." Now that is news, especially since it is exactly the opposite from what W has been doing for the whole course of his war in Iraq. Has anything worked there at all? And yet, we have, at his direction, continued to "stay the course."

I have a theory on W. None of this has anything to do with the rest of us, this war, this country, or the world. It has everything to do with W avenging himself in the eyes of his father. Always the goof-off kid that was always getting into trouble, falling short, and tripping up, and now having arrived where he is by the brute force of the big money of his father's friends, he is still out to prove to his father that he is right-and worthy of his father's approval. It is most unfortunate, to the point of penultimate disaster, that we, and the world, are the ones paying the price for W's self esteem issues.

It's no secret that George Sr. has distanced himself from his son in recent times. It is known that he has serious fears for our fate given the mess W has put us in Iraq. The father is still disapproving the son who is desperate to prove himself right in his father's eyes. Nothing else matters to this son and he will destroy a country, and even the world, in his ill-fated, all out effort to prove what is impossible. The fact is that W is wrong. If only he could admit that.

David Gregory of NBC reported never seeing W as humbled as he appeared in today's post-election press conference. David must be suffering from sleep deprivation or else he's on drugs. Humble? Where in the world did he see any sign of that?

Perhaps David took W's one statement that was as close to an admission of any shortcoming on his part as he would get, as humble. That was, "I thought we (Republicans) were going to do fine yesterday (in the elections)...shows what I know." And Amen to that, W. Now, repeat that last part over and over and over.

The price of right is way too high.
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Nancy Babcock Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Nancy Babcock has lived in 4 countries and 5 states, and has had a wide variety of careers, from horseback riding instructor to jewelry designer to university professor and cross-cultural trainer and consultant. Throughout her various life (more...)
 
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