The Great White Hype

[varkam]

Ever since September 11th, President Bush has made security the forefront of his domestic and international agenda - or so he repeatedly claims. He says that, to him, nothing is more important than bringing safety and security to the world. Nothing is more important than catching the terrorists. Nothing is more important than securing our borders / ports / power plants / airports / <insert soft target here>.

But time and time and time again, he and his cronies in power show that security, our security, the security and safety of my family and yours, is anything but his top priority. He is, for lack of a better term, the Great White Hype. He's shown this in Iraq - where the bulk of the insurgency are pissed off Iraqis who want us gone. He's shown this in Afghanistan, leaving the job only half-done of rooting out Taliban fighters and rebuilding in the wake of American destruction. He's shown this in New Orleans and the gulf coast - giving a speech to his campaign base while the damage that was wrought was becoming apparent, not to mention the recent failure of the appropriations bill designed to give an economic bump to the reconstruction efforts there.

And what does he have to show for it? Thousands are still unaccounted for in the Gulf. We're still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bin Laden is still on the loose. Seriously, I want to know: What does President Bush have to show for all his hot air about security? The fact that his friends in the defense and oil industries are making bank? The fact that we're all kept on the brink of panic regarding the newest terror alert? How about those coffins come in at Dover?

The fact of the matter is that President Bush does not care whether or not we live or we die. He doesn't care whether it's feast or famine for us. He doesn't care whether we pay the medical bills or the rent. I don't know about you, but elaborate plots to hijack planes and crash them into buildings don't scare me anymore. What scares me is how many of us live in poverty, how many of us have no medical insurance, how many of us have to make the agonizing choices that come with grinding poverty. Bush doesn't care about that kind of security either, though he certainly makes a lot of noise about "saving" social security and fixing medicare.

But the fact is, it's not real. It's hot air. Smoke and mirrors. Hype.