Unfortunately we continue to live in an era where apathy reigns supreme and where two people can’t even seem to agree on the time of day.
While this may seem a somewhat impetuous statement to most readers, take as an example the comment made last week by President George Bush and the outrage that followed.
“Our troops will remain in Iraq for years,” Bush said, “and it will be up to a future president to decide when to bring them all home.”
Where was the outrage from the American people after this remark? Apparently there wasn’t any. No protests, no outcries, just pure unadulterated apathy.
It was as if the people were simply muttering, “What ever you say Mr. President will be OK with us. Just let Congress know how much more of our money needs to be appropriated to continue this ill-advised, ill-equipped, ill-planned and WMD-less war.
Bush even rejected demands for the resignation of Department of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who incidentally in case everyone has forgotten, was the architect for not only the war in Iraq, but the disregarded war in Afghanistan.
“Listen,” Bush said, “every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy.”
A mealy-mouthed remark of this magnitude sounds like the Bush administration flat failed to do its homework.
Bush also said that “if [he] didn’t believe we had a plan for victory [he] wouldn’t leave our people in harm’s way.”
What was or is the Bush plan for victory and why were our people put in harm’s way to begin with?
It has been obvious since the beginning of the invasion of Iraq that there was never an exit strategy in place, so why should the American people believe that this inept group euphemistically called an administration ever considered doing their homework prior to the war?
Every war plan looks good on paper?
No war plan looks good on paper.
No war looks good.
Public support for the war in Iraq has dropped just as the poll numbers of Bush’s approval rating have plummeted. The notion that the White House believes people appreciate Bush’s “plainspoken approach” is just added proof that this White House isn’t listening to the people.
Bush comes across as an arrogant, gun-toting Texan who doesn’t give a damn what the American people think. Look at his Nixonian illegal wire-tapping incident and then dispute his arrogance.
And if the American people dare to question his decisions, he automatically labels them as being unpatriotic.
History reminds us that labels were once applied to people with differing viewpoints, but how quickly the name of Joe McCarthy has been forgotten. Too bad because McCarthy was a dangerous individual with too much power, and too much power leads to the abuse of power.
And while I certainly don’t agree with White House correspondent Helen Thomas’ ill-chosen remarks directed toward President Bush last week, since every American should be required to respect the office of the president even if they disagree with the person in office, there is still the problem with “Generic George’s” answer of “I’m an optimist. I know we’ll succeed.”
Just how long Bush can remain optimistic is an enigma.
The American people should have grown weary of his optimism long ago, but apathy instead of outrage has set in.
As the war in Iraq enters its fourth year and the Bush legacy begins to take shape, it’s apparent that this presidency may go down in history as one of America’s largest failures.
Perhaps then what is needed is an old-fashioned Vietnam-type war protest to wake up the power mongers who seem to be asleep at the wheel.
But then again, when two people can’t even agree on the time of day, how will it ever be possible to stage a well-organized protest?
Of course all protesters would immediately be labeled as un-American and the Joe McCarthy era would be reestablished.
Incidentally, Edward R. Murrow is deceased, so good luck America.

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