A Heck of a Job, Bushy

I have to say, Bush--to adapt one of your more felicitous utterances--you're doing a heck of a job as President of these United States. One weak point, though, if I might mention it: your choices for federal appoinments. I can't remember where I read this quote, but I wrote it down word for word so I trust it's right: "I don't like it when a friend gets criticized," you're reported to have said, "I'm loyal to my friends."

Listen, Bush, I know you think that you're a great judge of character, and that you prize loyalty above most other qualities. I understand that you were the chief loyalty enforcer when your Dad was in the White House. But I'm not sure, honestly, exactly what you mean by loyalty. If it means rewarding your friends with lavish praise, promotions, and business contracts when they haven't earned them, that's not how I understand the word. If it means standing by you, right or wrong, agreeing with everything you say and do, and never criticizing you, then I disagree fundamentally with your definition. To me, a loyal friend is not a yes-man, but someone I can trust to tell me when I'm off track or out of line, who can call me on my bullshit, and hold me accountable for my words and actions.

Your failure to hold your Brown accountable for his mishandling of the directorship of FEMA, which you had entrusted to him on the strength, apparently, of his friendship with one of your loyal friends, is nothing short of astounding. Here you are, President of the most powerful country in the world, and you don't even have the guts to fire the man yourself; not even, in fact, to fire him. Instead, you had your Chertoff do the dirty work, half-hearted as it was, in pulling him back from the front of the disaster response and leaving him in charge of the office back in Washington.

And while we're on the subject, what a travesty, the press conference where this all came about, with your Chertoff at the microphone, all huffy and indignant, and poor hangdog Brown forced to stand behind him, a little to one side, humiliated, and forbidden from uttering a word. "I thought I made the ground rules absolutely clear," your Chertoff barked, waving off a press question addressed to Brown. Talk about Homeland Security tsar! He behaved like one.

The thing is, Bush, you're not being a loyal friend in appointing a person way beyond his capacities, simply because you can expect and demand his loyalty. (It's called the Peter Principle, isn't it? Much to my chargin!) You're not being a loyal friend exposing him to the probability and the humiliation of failure. Above all, you're not being loyal to the country you were elected (well, nearly) to serve when you make appointments that repay debts and satisfy your own personal interests rather than the country's.

I might not be so terrible, Bush, if your Brown were the only one. But this is a pattern. You make appointments based on personal or family loyalties rather than qualifications or past experience and performance. And then when they fuck up you assure them of your loyalty, you tell them that they've done a "superb job" (in Rumsfeld's case, after the disaster that followed the Iraq invasion,) or "a heck of a job" for Brownie. And now you have nomination of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under your belt, and another Justice yet to go. I tremble, Bush. I tremble for all of us, given your track record. A heck of a job indeed.