The “Thump” in the Night

Congratulations America!  You gave the bully-in-chief a bloody nose and it hurt.  

Bush is a bully, and like all bullies he has tried to get his way through force and not through compromise.  For most of his 6 years in office, he has given little effort to compromise because compromise would be a sign of weakness. Well, if I learned one thing in grade school it is that you have to stand up to a bully because bullies only understand one thing:  Power.

Congratulations America!  Yesterday you gave the bully-in-chief a bloody nose and it hurt.  Today Bush did what he should have done 18 months ago.  He fired Donald Rumsfeld. 

Question:  Why did he do it? 

Answer:    Because he had no choice. 

With Democrats controlling both houses of Congress, Bush knew that he had to give up Rumsfeld.  If nothing else, Rumsfeld’s departure allows the Bush administration to try and side step lengthy hearings about missteps in Iraq.  Rumsfeld’s political death allows Bush to cast himself as the chastened President who now wants to be a “uniter” instead of a divider.  In other words, it was a necessary political act—a way of pleading mea culpa without actually having to admit that he was personally wrong.  So does this gesture make Bush a man of character? 

No way.  Don’t believe it for a minute. Not long ago, his administration was spinning his loyalty to Rumsfeld as a display of his character.  Remember the line that this President does not govern by polls but does what he thinks is right?  Well, Mr. President, why is it right to fire Rumsfeld today when it was wrong to do so last week?  Oh yeah, I forgot.  You put it so well in your press conference; you got a “thumpin'.”

You had to do something to make yourself look big, because you knew that you would look totally out of touch if you continued to stand by Rumsfeld. So Mr. President, you are one of two things:  1) a liar who uses words like loyalty for political purposes and when they are no longer useful, shows your true colors; or 2) a man without integrity who uses your people as scapegoats when you actually agree with them.  Which is it?  Are you a political liar or a man without integrity?  Either way, I am glad the American people stood up to you, and gave you a “thump” in the night.