The Poet's Eye
                  commentary by Lightning Rod


The Poets' Eye is skeptical without being cynical, innocent without being naive and critical without being judgemental.

Tie On Fire

04-15-04

We are currently at war. The President and his minions keep reminding us of this. I agree that we are at war. We are at war with our own worst fears and our lesser instincts. It is also a war of fashion and rhetoric.

The two signature events of this week have been the 9/11 Commission hearings and the President's prime time news conference. (I could also mention the 50 American dead in Iraq.)

The Poet's Eye squints on the whole 9/11 Commission proceedings. Sure, it makes for some semi-interesting reality television, sort of a warm-up for the upcoming election, but I can't imagine anything useful coming out of it. The blame game is rarely productive and this is the level to which these proceedings will surely devolve.

The main theme of the hearings seems to be that our government is suffering from a lack of intelligence. Duh. I think we already knew that. Example: The Presidential Press Conference of 04-13-04.

Maybe I'm just spoiled. After eight years of Bill Clinton, who could regale a press conference with his command of the facts and his convincing delivery, now we are treated to a President who can barely put two sentences together that make sense unless he is reading them from a page.

I hate to be the one who declares that the Emperor has no clothes, but what was the deal with that tie he was wearing during the news conference? It was flashing. Doesn't he have a competent wardrobe advisor? The pattern interference made it look like it was on fire. I think it was a subliminal message that was supposed to convey urgency. "Hair on fire," "Tie on fire." You get the connection.

I remember the first State of the Union Speech that George Bush II gave. I thought to myself that there was something inherently charming about a mediocre mind rising to the occassion. America loves this version of the Horatio Alger story. At least then his tie didn't offend the lens.

Tuesday, when I heard the President speak, I was just embarrassed for him. During the press questioning he was hesitant and stammering. He couldn't put two thoughts end to end without mouthing some slogan. That's why they made the tie flash--to distract the viewer from the President's rhetorical incompetence.

The only time that I got the idea that he was being sincere is when he was expanding on the subject of religious war.

In contrast to the performances of the competent bureaucrats (Rice, Tenet, Freeh, Black, Reno, Clarke) who testified this week before the 9/11 Commission, the President's delivery at his news conference was faltering and selfconscious. It makes you wonder if the tail is wagging the dog. And then there was that flashing tie.



The Poet's Eye sees our President as a well-meaning fanatic who is being controlled by a cadre of very smart and articulate handlers who are mostly leftovers from his Dad's administration (Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perl, etc) and either have corporate alliances or are just rabid ideologues.

I'm only thankful that these neo-con maniacs, who have a vision of the world that is truly chilling, don't have a spokesman who is as effective as a Hitler or a Roosevelt or a Clinton. Then we would really be in trouble. My tie would be on fire.

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