Appointments, Appointments

Well, I have to hand it to you, Bush: you sure know how to get the whole world mad at you. I sometimes wonder if you don't wake up every morning asking yourself how best to stick your finger in everyone's eye that day. Amazing! I go through the list of your appointments, and I have to wonder if there's not some imp of perverseness at work in that brain of yours.

I mean, consider the history. First you appoint your Cheney, back when you were first "elected", to find you a Vice President, and he searches dilligently for weeks and comes up with... himself! Then I think of your Rumsfeld, your Rice, your education secretary, whatever the hell his name was--I've mercifully forgotten it--and the list goes on.

And then your judges! I mean, really, Bush. The word extremist barely does them justice (excuse the pun!) And once the worst of them were turned down by the Democrats in your last term, you serve up their names again in your second term, presumably in the secure hope and knowledge that you'll piss everyone off.

And now your Rice gets promoted, as does your Gonzales. Bolton, a superlative hater of the United Nations, gets picked for ambassador. And... I must be forgetting a few here. But not your Wolfowitz. Who could forget your Wolfowitz, the man who brought us the war in Iraq, the boastful aggressiveness of our foreign policy. Mr. Hawk in person. A perfect pick for the World Bank, Bush! Some one--I think in a Los Angeles Times editorial--suggested Bono. No kidding! Because of his dedication to the cause of poor countries, especially of course in Africa, and his negotiating skills. But no. For you it's Wolfowitz. The best man you could find to bring hope to the poor and hungry of this world.

Well congratulations, Bush. You've got everyone mad at you again. Trouble is, when they're mad at you, they're mad at all of us. And in my ignorance I somehow believe that this is a moment for greater mutual understanding in the world, and greater cooperation. We should be leading the way, not throwing out provocation. But then, I'm not the President.