Bush Senior weeps over what might have been

if only his son Jebbie had been born first.



Georgie is determined not to listen to Poppy's words of wisdom:
"Asked to comment on widespread view that his father's influence was coming to bear on his administration, Bush insisted: "I am the commander-in-chief.""

Left unsaid was Georgie's obvious proof of manliness, that he won two terms, count'em Pops, to Bush senior's wimpy one term.

Meanwhile the United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel shudder under the rubble and the smoke of Georgie's leadership.

We can't see the back of the Bush family cabal soon enough.

Update: Via Atrios:
"That election turned out to be pivotal because it disrupted the plan Papa Bush had for his sons, which may be why he was crying, and why the country cries with him. The family’s grand design had the No. 2 son, Jeb, by far the brighter and more responsible, ascend to the presidency while George, the partying frat-boy type, settled for second best in Texas. The plan went awry when Jeb, contrary to conventional wisdom, lost in Florida, and George unexpectedly defeated Ann Richards in Texas. With the favored heir on the sidelines, the family calculus shifted. They’d go for the presidency with the son that won and not the one they wished had won.

The son who was wrongly launched has made such a mess of things that he has ruined the family franchise. Without getting too Oedipal, it’s fair to say that so many mistakes George W. Bush made are the result of his need to distinguish himself from his father and show that he’s smarter and tougher. His need to outdo his father and at the same time vindicate his father’s failure to get re-elected makes for a complicated stew of emotions. The irony is that the senior Bush, dismissed by Junior’s crowd as a country-club patrician, looks like a giant among presidents compared to his son." (My bold)

..."why the country cries with him"....why countries cry BECAUSE of him more like.