So...was Bush off his meds for this recent European trip?

I mean, I think the current press uproar about Bush saying "get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit" is ridiculous.  Who doesn't talk like this in unguarded moments?  Who doesn't think other people do, even Presidents?  (C'mon, Bill Clinton reportedly went into thunderous, profanity-filled tirades, but had the sense to do so in private.)

But aside from Bush not realizing that this wasn't quite the best venue to let his hair down, what strikes me the most about this story is the simple content of what he said.  When he's off-message and unscripted, I'm not expecting Bush to sound like Winston Freaking Churchill, but this?

Bush: I felt like telling Kofi to call, to get on the phone to Assad and make something happen.

This is the understanding our President has of geopolitics?  He "tells Kofi" to do stuff, and stuff happens?  Um, he's the guy running the most powerful nation in the world, and he can't call Assad?  He doesn't realize that if the US wants to "make something happen" vis-a-vis the UN, the US has to do something?  Kofi Annan doesn't set the Security Council's agenda, and is only one voice without the backing of the permanent member states.

Actually, Tony Blair comes across pretty well here...not at all deserving of the "Bush's lapdog" label that's so often thrown around when his name comes up.  He's counseling Bush that he needs to act fast, that he's willing to help but recognizes the limits of what he can do and the implications of sending Rice there, urges an international presence...and what does Bush do?

He talks with his mouth full and wishes that Hezbollah would stop doing what they're doing.

News flash -- everyone (okay, every sane person) wants Hezbollah to stop doing what they're doing.  And Syria has some leverage over them, but not nearly as much as they did a year or two ago, before the Hariri assassination.  But this is how Bush evidently thinks you solve a crisis -- you push it off on the UN Secretary-General (when you're not slagging him behind his back), and order him to tell someone else to knock it off.

This is truly a foreign policy master at work, no?

And this isn't even the weird stuff, like the unsolicited neck massages or the demands for Diet Coke or the marvelings that other leaders might have to travel eight whole hours to get to St. Petersburg:

At another moment, Bush is clearly itching to get home after a relatively long trip of six days in Europe, saying, apparently to a counterpart, possibly President Hu Jintao, who is sitting next to him, "Good job. Gotta keep this thing moving. I gotta leave at 2:15. You'll want me out of town so to free up your security forces." The voice that appears to be that of Hu agrees, "Ya," and he laughs along with Bush's trademark giggle.

Bush sighs, and explains, "Gotta go home - got something to do," and asks "Where you going, home? This is your neighborhood - it won't take you long to get home." The counterpart, again apparently Hu, cannot be heard as he responds, but Bush exclaims, "You get home in eight hours? Me too! Russia is a big country, and you're a big country."

Bush is heard chastising a waiter: "No, not Coke, Diet Coke."

Around then, Bush's closest ally, Prime Minister Tony Blair, walks by, and the president yells out, "Yeah, Blair, what are you doing? Leaving?"

This isn't homeroom.  This is the G-8 Summit.  But apparently our President can't tell the difference...or, more likely, doesn't give a "shit."

Comments

[tizzie]

That neck massage thing is horrifying! Oh my god, could he be any more clueless? What an oaf.