This is a re-run by *anymouse* at the freerepublic forums. But it is a rather slow night so give me a damn break...I bring it for a single individual and for a pure reactionary reason.
"Consider your mental image of President Bush.
The smirk ? the receding hairline ? the confidence and the swagger.
He?s not a cowboy, as the Economist caricatured him last year. Nor is he as a dunce, as Saturday Night Lives claims every week. He?s also not a font of morality, as Peggy Noonan would have us believe.
He?s a living, breathing Captain Kirk.
Consider: He has the same poise facing down terrorists that the farm boy from Iowa had facing down Klingons. He jokes with his ?crew? (the media, the Cabinet, Tony Blair) even as he weighs life-and-death matters. He even has the same array of advisers: The cautious, logical Spock (Colin Powell), a folksy, straight-talkin? McCoy (Don Rumsfeld), and a trouble-shooting miracle worker (Dick Cheney).
It?s not entirely a positive comparison, of course. The shoot-from-the-hip mentality that informed so many of Kirk?s actions is Bush?s default setting. The self-confidence that lets Bush and Kirk make snap judgments is prone to become arrogance that can lead to keeping your shields down in an uncertain situation. And the boyish charm can sometimes grate, especially when unleashed at inopportune moments. Most importantly, it?s not an attitude that would get along well with a peacetime Congress. One can no more picture Bush herding cats than Kirk adopting Tribbles.
On the whole, though, having Captain Kirk as President is a benefit to the country in a time when military leadership and a steady course are more important than introspection. Sometimes issues are murky, and sometimes moral quagmires are moral quagmires. Vietnam was such a time. September 11 wasn?t. If not black and white, the morality of the situation was at least pretty close. The Bob Woodward series on President Bush?s days immediately after the attacks made clear that the decision to go to war had been made early on the day the towers fell. It was only the necessities of getting the troops in order that made Bush hold off on his formal announcement.
Captain Kirk is the quintessential American science fiction hero. He?s Midwestern, boyish, occasionally rash, and commanding. Bush fits that description to a ?T.? The only major difference between the commander of the Enterprise and the commander-in-chief is that the former?s libido was more Clintonesque (although it should be noted that Kirk only flirted with Yeoman Rand).
The Kirk metaphor allows us to understand why Bush doesn?t get along well with most European leaders, and why the European street doesn?t like him. Europe, a staid continent politically and economically (remember ?Eurosclerosis??), depends on subtlety, discussion, and meetings. The European Commission is nothing more than an endless summit, and the European Union?s agencies little more than a bureaucrat?s heaven. (Q. How many people work at the EU headquarters? A. About a third of them.)
This more intellectual continent ? older, poorer, and weaker than America ? would prefer to do business with a less forceful and more diplomatic president than George T. Kirk. Gerhard and Jacuques would rather have a civilized cup of tea, followed by aperitifs in Ten-Forward. In short, they would rather have to deal with Captain Picard, who, despite Patrick Stewart?s BBC Received accent, was French.
Maybe they?ll get their wish sometime. But not soon. And not while President Kirk has the conn."
"Consider your mental image of President Bush.
The smirk ? the receding hairline ? the confidence and the swagger.
He?s not a cowboy, as the Economist caricatured him last year. Nor is he as a dunce, as Saturday Night Lives claims every week. He?s also not a font of morality, as Peggy Noonan would have us believe.
He?s a living, breathing Captain Kirk.
Consider: He has the same poise facing down terrorists that the farm boy from Iowa had facing down Klingons. He jokes with his ?crew? (the media, the Cabinet, Tony Blair) even as he weighs life-and-death matters. He even has the same array of advisers: The cautious, logical Spock (Colin Powell), a folksy, straight-talkin? McCoy (Don Rumsfeld), and a trouble-shooting miracle worker (Dick Cheney).
It?s not entirely a positive comparison, of course. The shoot-from-the-hip mentality that informed so many of Kirk?s actions is Bush?s default setting. The self-confidence that lets Bush and Kirk make snap judgments is prone to become arrogance that can lead to keeping your shields down in an uncertain situation. And the boyish charm can sometimes grate, especially when unleashed at inopportune moments. Most importantly, it?s not an attitude that would get along well with a peacetime Congress. One can no more picture Bush herding cats than Kirk adopting Tribbles.
On the whole, though, having Captain Kirk as President is a benefit to the country in a time when military leadership and a steady course are more important than introspection. Sometimes issues are murky, and sometimes moral quagmires are moral quagmires. Vietnam was such a time. September 11 wasn?t. If not black and white, the morality of the situation was at least pretty close. The Bob Woodward series on President Bush?s days immediately after the attacks made clear that the decision to go to war had been made early on the day the towers fell. It was only the necessities of getting the troops in order that made Bush hold off on his formal announcement.
Captain Kirk is the quintessential American science fiction hero. He?s Midwestern, boyish, occasionally rash, and commanding. Bush fits that description to a ?T.? The only major difference between the commander of the Enterprise and the commander-in-chief is that the former?s libido was more Clintonesque (although it should be noted that Kirk only flirted with Yeoman Rand).
The Kirk metaphor allows us to understand why Bush doesn?t get along well with most European leaders, and why the European street doesn?t like him. Europe, a staid continent politically and economically (remember ?Eurosclerosis??), depends on subtlety, discussion, and meetings. The European Commission is nothing more than an endless summit, and the European Union?s agencies little more than a bureaucrat?s heaven. (Q. How many people work at the EU headquarters? A. About a third of them.)
This more intellectual continent ? older, poorer, and weaker than America ? would prefer to do business with a less forceful and more diplomatic president than George T. Kirk. Gerhard and Jacuques would rather have a civilized cup of tea, followed by aperitifs in Ten-Forward. In short, they would rather have to deal with Captain Picard, who, despite Patrick Stewart?s BBC Received accent, was French.
Maybe they?ll get their wish sometime. But not soon. And not while President Kirk has the conn."