Fear Leader

The Bush Administration currently has foreign policy crises of gargantuan proportions on its hands: a worsening Iraqi sectarian war, a resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, a defiant Iran in pursuit of nuclear weapons, belligerent North Korea launching missiles, and an Israeli-Lebanon war provoked by Iran and Syria. This sordid mess is both, direct and indirect fallout from a doctrine of unintended consequences – which is, nothing else but a catastrophic failure in the execution of the Bush Doctrine. All manner of pundits are seeing this preemption strategy for what it is now, but in the immediate aftermath of our glorious, albeit incomplete, triumph in Afghanistan it was largely praise when President Bush first outlined his provocative “axis of evil” policy. In an article, “State of the World”, written immediately after his 2002 State of the Union speech, I had made the following observations:

Buoyed by stratospheric approval ratings in his execution of the war on terrorism, President Bush now appears to be milking the “terror cow” for what it’s worth! At least one got that impression after listening to the President touch briefly on a few domestic issues in the middle of his speech, while devoting most of his attention to the “state of the world”!

One would like to give kudos to the President’s speechwriters for coming up with a quotable gem like “axis of evil”. However, one must wonder if the President and his advisors have really considered all the implications of engaging such a disparate axis in protracted, simultaneous, and geographically dispersed wars, if it became necessary? Are we ready to walk that talk?

More than fours years later, it has become quite apparent that we are in the midst of the very situation that I had warned about and President Bush’s responses thus far have more or less proven that he is unable to “walk that talk”. The whole world has had a good laugh at the expense of the despot, Kim Jong Il who insists on being referred to as “Dear Leader” by his people. Ironically, it is “we the people” of the United States who elected our very own “Fear Leader” – he, who intended to strike fear among the hearts of all the world’s evil dictators with his post-9/11 policies, but in reality has managed to largely scare his own citizenry with conveniently-timed reminders of how these evil dictators are out to harm America.

Not surprisingly the domestic fear-mongering is wearing thin and even neo-conservatives who fashioned the original Bush Doctrine are beginning to wonder, in the light of the current crises, whether the President has the will to see it through. Already former Speaker and 2008 presidential contender, Newt Gingrich is talking about “World War III” and other pundits have compared the current turmoil similar to the one that sparked World War I. Given these dire pronouncements, it might be time for President Bush to stop, not only leading with fear but also fearing to lead – his presidency, his legacy, and most importantly our status as the world’s only remaining superpower is at stake.

Family Ties Redux

What better time to reminisce about a great sitcom from the eighties than on Father’s Day – which happens to be tomorrow – after all, 'Steven Keaton' was ranked #12 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (20 June 2004 issue). But this is not only about me. While I confess to being moderately liberal, my own parents ensured that I never experimented with the hippie thing. Although this might sound unbelievable, I did have friends in 1970s Bombay who went that route! So what sparked my trip down memory lane?

My son, Jay (Alex P. Keaton), just completed his sophomore year at the University of Maryland, College Park – where he intends to graduate with a major in Finance. Jay opened his own Scottrade account this year, recently took up golf, and is interning at a prominent DC investment banking firm this summer. Meanwhile, my daughter, Pia (Mallory Keaton), just finished her sophomore year in the Magnet Program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring. She will be interning this summer as a congressional page for Representative Albert D. Wynn (D-MD) from our home district.

What does this have to do with the ties that bind? Jay recently wrote a blog, “Two Minute Bush Quiz”, in which he asked his readers to partake in The George W. Bush Loyalty Quiz. I was surprised, but not alarmed, to find that Jay rated our President a 6 on a 10 scale. As the author of the “The Bush Diaries”, I was naturally keen on my evaluation of the President through this wacky poll. Not unexpectedly, I ranked the Decider a 4 out of 10 which, given my already published account of the President’s dismal job performance, appeared to be a fair reckoning. But then along came our Mallory (Pia), and she low-balled the President with a 2 ranking on the same quiz! That’s when I had this Family Ties epiphany – and with apologies to Billy Vera & the Beaters for a slightly distorted version of their classic “At This Moment” – along the lines of which, I offer this confession:

What did you think I would say at this moment?
When I'm faced with the knowledge
That I have a son who might be a Republican
And a daughter who is a bleeding heart liberal
I guess that puts me right in the middle
If I just could live with it

If I could just live with it, again

Happy Father’s Day, folks!

The Coincidental Pundit – my literal 15 minutes!

My book “The Bush Diaries” was published back in July 2005. As a self-published author, who also holds a day job, I have had no opportunity so far to market or promote it. But recently, I was referred by a friend to the producers of a local TV program – Darshan TV – which caters to the Indian-American community. I was interviewed by Darshan TV host, Ramesh Butani, about my book for the program’s “In Conversation” segment, which aired today.

After watching my own TV debut, I happened to be reading today’s New York Times editorial page – lo and behold, John Tierney has a column entitled, “The People's Pundit”. Folks, it doesn’t get any more surreal than this because Mr. Tierney writes:

“His performance made it clear that television networks have been wasting money on professional commentators. Why not give everyone their 15 minutes of punditry? The only preparation the masses need is a video of Goma's debut”

If you watch my video debut with Mr. Butani, all you need to do is replace “Goma” with “Jack” and I am good to go. In fact, I do make an appeal to all the Sunday morning talk show hosts at the end of my Darshan TV interview – which believe it or not is exactly 15 minutes long! Andy Warhol must surely be chuckling up there? But seriously – Bob, George, Mike, and Tim – if you want to disprove this whole fifteen minute thing, give me a call!

With apologies to the Beatles, we are – Back in the USSR!

Welcome to the new USSR – the United States of Spying & Reconnaissance. George Bush’s 2006 makes George Orwell’s 1984 really look like “Morning in America”. Shame on AT&T and Verizon for turning over my phone records to Big Brother – I wish Qwest offered service in Maryland because I would switch faster than Patrick Henry could have said “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death”. Henceforth, we all should no longer feel “Orwellian”; Americans must simply feel “AmBushed”.

Speaking of ambushed, we cannot afford to have Bush fatigue set in on us with another 32 months – yes, that is one month for each point of the President’s current approval rating per CNN – left to go in this presidency. Although, it can be rather disheartening when the President himself admits, as reported by Reuters last Sunday that the best moment he has had in his last five years in office was when:

“I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake”.

Last night on his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher”, the comedian challenged that assertion saying that the largest perch ever caught in the history of fishing has weighed in at a little over four pounds. So Bill facetiously suggested that the President Bush should be impeached for lying! As the other Bill might have said in a situation as awkward as this, “It depends on the meaning of the word ‘caught’”.

However, I wouldn’t want to get all “caught” up on a little white lie and try to take away from the President what was after all, by his own admission, the best moment of his presidency so far. I am more perturbed by the constant erosion in our liberties during the course of this Administration – this is one mission that we, as Americans, cannot let the President accomplish. That the President is willing to curtail our freedom in order to guarantee it is an oxymoronic policy, which is in gross violation of our Constitution and needs to stop. With apologies to my favorite Beatles, I would rather be “Back in the US, Back in the US” but never “Back in the USSR”. So enough already with all the spying and reconnaissance, Mr. President.