Bursting at the Seems

Three weeks ago, Newsweek said Bush blew it. This week, in an article that's clearly trying to be conciliatory and give Bush the benefit of the doubt ("It is probably not realistic to expect government to rise above human frailty in a crisis"--so we've reached the point where we should expect government to drop the ball?), Evan Thomas provides an absolutely devastating paragraph on Bush's reaction, or lack thereof, to being told that Rita was not the destructive storm originally feared.

The president didn't look all that relieved or happy, however. His eyes were puffy from lack of sleep (he had been awakened all through the night with bulletins), and he seemed cranky and fidgety. A group of reporters and photographers had been summoned by White House handlers to capture a photo op of the commander in chief at his post. Bush stared at them balefully. He rocked back and forth in his chair, furiously at times, asked no questions and took no notes. It almost seemed as though he resented having to strike a pose for the press.

"Almost seemed as though . . . "? Resentment is exactly what this passage presents. You couldn't ask for a better description of someone who's in over his head, bitter over being forced to do something he can't and doesn't want to do anyway. This is a description of a five-year-old child, not the leader of the free world.

Newsweek tries to end the article on an up note, but the last line almost seems as though it could be rather chilling, instead:

But there are a lot of storm systems yet to come--and three years is time enough for Bush to show that his leadership means more than staging heroic poses.

Or not.