He's got the whole world in his hands

I did not like George W. Bush.

I did not like his attitude.  I did not like, the way he carried himself. I did not like his swagger. I did not like the way he got elected on bullshit and innuendo. (Speaking of bullshit and innuendo, does that remind you of anyone else). I did not want to have a beer with him. I did not like the way he used his privilege to bypass all the rules the rest of us have to follow. I wasn't jealous of his privilege, I just didn't like the way he used it. There are people of privilege who occasionally use their privilege to benefit others who get a pass.

I did not like the fact that he was "formerly" a drunken substance abuser. I especially did not like the fact that he was now "on the wagon" and telling the rest of us who didn't get to party like it was 1999 about the dangers of having too much fun. It reminded me of my childhood when the whore mongers who occasionally showed up in church on Sunday morning "testifying" about the dangers of all the shit they had been doing for the past 30 years but here they were this morning to tell the youth that "ain't nothing out there" for you. And we would be sitting there thinking "Yeah motherfucker I guess not after your greedy ass has used up all of the big fun and now you in here telling everybody all the secrets" so that we have to explain.  No ma'am, we don't have none of that at our school, that must be them other schools.

But on 9/11, when that second plane hit the tower and everyone realized instantaneously that this was definitely an oh shit moment, my perspective on George W. Bush changed. The news coverage that day was hyperbolic enough that anyone who pays attention understands that the only thing the secret service would want to do that day would be to get the hell out of Dodge. A moving target is a difficult target and they would want to be wheels up and fast moving away from whatever godforsaken shit hole they happened to be in at that moment (apologies to Sarasota). I knew this was the protocol but as the day wore on and the hysteria began to subside the media started giving the POTUS shit for being MIA.

But on this day George W. Bush became "my president" too and it was the first time that I had ever rooted for his ass.  I remember thinking "run motherfucker, run".  Ignore those stupid sombitches in the media and run.  This man and his decisions are the only thing standing between us and a real shit storm of overwhelming grief.

From its very beginning, America is and was an amazingly uneven and offensively divided nation. And those on the bottom are subjected to unspeakable disadvantages while those on the top enjoy obscenely offensive advantages while those in the middle pick up the tab for everyone. But if these assholes somehow manage to topple the hierarchy of the United States government we all are going to be fucked six ways from Sunday. My sincerest hope that day was that Dubya and his coterie had successfully bugged out, busted out the super secret double naught spy equipment and had somehow managed to get this shit on lock down.

Everyone who experienced the horrors of that day, pretty much in real time, has certain things they remember about that day. One of the things that sticks in my head is my personal realization that despite my disdain for him, George W. Bush was the only president that I had and that I had better root for his ass with all earnestness that I could muster. All we needed in that moment was 2 or 3 Al Haig wanna be's to decide that their time had finally come and it would be a short walk to chaos from there. Besides, Dick Cheney did not strike me as the type of motherfucker you wanted to let loose on his own.  Upon leaving the presidency, at least Dubya had the decency to go sit quietly in a corner somewhere and STFU.  Also, this personal revelation provides me with perspective on these right wing sombitches constantly rooting for the failure of President Obama; not only are they unpatriotic but they are dim bulb stupid cocksuckers to boot.

The other thing that stands out in my head about that day was thinking someday there would be some sort of detailed account of what happened that day in and around Air Force One. I remember thinking I hope I am still alive when the real blow by blow account of what happened that day is released. Well it looks like I made it because the first of those accounts has been published by Politico.  It is full of holes and not very organized and you have to take it with a grain of salt as some of it is total bullshit excreted by well known bullshitters but it is a fascinating read.  I am most surprised by the praise heaped on Vladimir Putin and Russia's cooperation during those uncertain hours.  But Vladimir is nobody's fool and I am certain that he realized that there is nothing in nature more dangerous than a wounded she bear trying to protect her cubs.  He probably had an entire agenda of bullshit he planned to perpetrate on the world that day but I am certain the only thing going through his mind was "not today Satan."

Run motherfucker, run indeed!