Lights, Camera, Commander in Chief

The President of the United States (more accurately the little bit of Rove grafted to his brain) is all about the Stage. This past week George Bush was working over-time, for the first time since the beginning of yet another record vacation, to rectify his image in the aftermath of the great Katrina debacle. Our man Bush was caught examining his navel while peoples' lives were being ruined. Again. The answer for W. to any vile and troubling situation has been and continues to be to work the media over. Give it the Business. And not the papers that he so famously resents and discredits as a matter of reflex. Oh no, this man takes his pleas directly to the People via the Tube. There is nothing more important than sleight of hand and bright shiny mirrors to this White House. The pundits have already latched on to the facile yet important observation that those generators powering the Presiden't backdrop could have been used a week earlier for a much nobler cause than stitching together what remains of the Emperor's Clothes.

Without the tools of stage, this man would never have been elected. Put on a show and forget money in thy purse. Because, as is crystal clear to anyone paying attention, this administration takes the cynical tack that if you go directly to the People with a Song and Dance, the majority of them will have no concept of what underlies the pageantry. And the tough questions won't come and neither will any real solutions. It will all blow over until the next big blow-up. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

The Democrats, it seems, are taking notes. Geena Davis is scheduled to be trotted out as the latest attempt to put a female face in the Oval Office. Of course this is not Really the reason, is it? Who besides crazy people would be so craven, so pitted with sarcastic scorn,to assume that this is an elaborate piece of craft to warm the crowd up for Hillary in 2008?

Well, why not? It would seem that both sides of the ailsle have come to terms with the notion that the American people cannot be Reasoned with. No, they must be Entertained. What's next? Shall we phone in our votes for the President during prime-time after the talent show? I wonder what Hillary's special gift is? Can she sing? What of the bathing suit contest? The idea of Joe Biden in a banana hammock is horrifying and debilitating on the most basic level.

But take heart! The people can only be fooled and jerked around so long. Even TV shows, after all, get cancelled.