Here's To You, America: Bush's Most Public Secret

Here's to You, America: Bush's Most Public Secret

By Justin Frank

After this drink I'm going to stop. I promise, so help me God. These two sentences are familiar to anyone who is an alcoholic, has been an alcoholic, or has known an alcoholic. Four generations ago Eugene O'Neill portrayed a group of alcoholics promising to themselves and each other simply that they would go for a walk around the block – tomorrow.

Fast forward to December 2005 and the recently described Bush Syndrome, and look at one of its fundamental characteristics -- alcoholism. George Bush, by all counts, is an untreated alcoholic who supposedly has not been drinking for close to twenty years. Now he has traded in promises never to drink for newer, more appealing ones -- such as promising to protect America. While not so simple as taking a walk around the block, the "ism" in alcoholism is unchanged.

He promises and doesn't deliver. Partly this is because Bush's brain is compromised either by past long-term alcohol abuse or by having started drinking again. In either case Bush remains untreated. Paul Krugman wrote (December 9) that Bush "seems to have forgotten his promise" to reconstruct both Iraq and the Gulf Coast. That is true -- alcoholics do not remember promises they make. They do not even remember what the problems were in the first place -- hence no new staff members for FEMA.

If an alcoholic has the slightest disinclination, he won't follow through. Thus Bush only follows up when he is running for office or on a treadmill. But that's it. Former administration officials describe Bush as detached. Of course he is -- nobody is more detached than someone immersed in a post-alcohol haze. This is why Bush doesn't make public appearances unless his audience is heavily vetted. What strikes me is that none of the critics who have remarked on his behavior link it to alcoholism. They behave like enablers, frightened that the person in charge might be drinking.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-frank/heres-to-you-america-b_b_11963.html

clearly he's addled.

One time I was talking with him on the phone, and I began to harp on Junior's latest horrific act, and he just said, "Sure! He's been hitting the bottle too much again!"

He clearly NEVER swallowed the apparent lie that Junior had ever "stopped drinking".

During the 2004 election, this same uncle, who likes to cut to the chase, said, "Simple: if you want war, vote for Bush. If you don't want war, vote for Kerry."

He was right--in spite of what people all say about Kerry being a "supporter of the war". If Kerry had been elected, right about now he would be a first-termer looking to getting re-elected in 2008. And no WAY would any such person be ignoring the constant, loud, agonized screams from the American public, to GET US OUT OF IRAQ NOW!

Instead, we have Junior/Dick, who couldn't care less what the public says. Why should they? They aren't running for re-election. They just want to keep on making as much money as possible for their PERSONAL portofolios, before they leave office and the gravy train stops running.