CALL ME SNAKE

In the soccer league that I coach in, we’re always supposed to be supportive of the children. If they come out of the game, the first thing you’re supposed to say is “Good job!” And then, maybe you could say something like: “Remember the time you did ___? Do you think things might have gone better if you did ___ instead?”

I sometimes wonder whether that same approach might work with our fearless (peerless?) leader, George W. Bush. There are certainly countless situations where one could have asked him: “Do you think things might have gone better if you did ___ instead of ___?”

Which brings me to the latest situation with North Korea. I’m not up enough on the situation as I should be. Clearly, U.S. negotiation efforts aimed at dissuading North Korea from pursuing their nuclear ambitions have not gone well, if early indications of a nuclear test are confirmed. I have no doubt there was a better way to go, though again I do not pretend to have all the answers here. The main thing that bothers me now is that I heard some reporter on NPR saying that North Korea’s nuclear weapons should give President Bush “a badly-needed bump in the polls.” I’m sorry, but this one is tough to swallow, even if it is true. Why should the world’s loss–and North Korea’s acquisition of nuclear weapons–be a gain for Bush, whose negotiations have led to exactly the thing that everyone in the world, except North Korea, hoped to avoid? And if what the NPR reporter said is true, he’s obligated to say more and explain the warped reasoning behind it, rather than just putting it out there, as if it’s obvious this is Bush’s finest hour.

If you ask me, the opposite is true. Bush and his cohorts have done everything in their powers to make the world a more dangerous place. The latest development–even if this time the Bush cabal is not directly involved–is just another huge step in that direction. As for that “bump in the polls,” I too would like to see a big bump, right out of office.