Opportunism, thy name is Dubya!

Dubya has taken "responsibility" for the disaster-creating response to the Gulf Coast disaster. This is a man who in his whole life has never accepted blame for anything. So why the current uncharacteristic behaviour? I don't think the answer lies in the plummeting popularity ratings, as unpopularity is nothing new to him. It is something he has bravely weathered throughout his life! Rather, the explanation lies in his next statement: "Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack? That’s a very important question and it’s in the national interest that we find out what went on so we can better respond." Although the latter statement was made in response to a question and appeared spontaneous, the fact is that it has been a constant theme since the disaster. In fact, it has been a constant theme for the past four years. He has exploited nearly every single negative news of any kind since 9/11 to escalate the level of paranoia in the US population. Yet, it seems, he never felt he was being quite convincing enough. Dubya's "genius" is in his current juxtaposition of manufacture of paranoia and the Gulf Coast disaster. Rather than focusing on disaster prevention and putting in place better preparations for relief and rescue, Dubya's first priority is to tell the American people they have not yet sacrificed enough resources and rights on the altar of imaginary security. He chooses to exploit the tragedy of New Orleans to advance his agenda of transforming every single event in the world into an actual or potential "attack" on the United States. That so profound a lack of ethical bearings and simple humanity can be found in a man is indeed a marvel of historical proportions.

P.S.:

From an Associated Press story on Sep. 8:

Pelosi, D-Calif., said Brown had "absolutely no credentials" when Bush picked him to run FEMA. She related that she urged Bush on Tuesday [Sep. 6] to fire Brown.
"He said, 'Why would I do that?' " Pelosi said.
"I said 'because of all that went wrong, of all that didn't go right last week.' And he said 'What didn't go right?' "
"Oblivious, in denial, dangerous," she said.

Well, I beg to differ. Brown did have the one qualification that counts, namely absolute loyalty to Bush. The rest is immaterial.

Pelosi has got most of the rest wrong as well. Dubya is indeed dangerous—very dangerous—but he is not in denial or oblivious. Neo-conservatives don’t care what ordinary people think, or what effects their policies have on such people. Incidentally (or not so incidentally), they don’t care about their “legacy” either. All they care about is implementing the agenda they sought political office for. Again, the rest is immaterial.

The issue of Dubya’s approval rating, therefore, is irrelevant, because it doesn’t register where it could count, namely with Dubya himself. There is no threshold of popularity rating below which he would feel obliged to resign.

At the moment, the only thing that his buddies and he care about is that they will be able to make a whole lot of money out of Gulf Coast reconstruction, as they have and will through the Iraq war. Prior to Katrina, the only alternative available to them was to begin another war. Domestic reconstruction is much more convenient!