Slacker In Chief

I've been putting off writing this entry. Partly because I don't want to badmouth our president in a time of war, and especially because the war effort is a righteous endeavor. I wanted to say Pres. Bush has been resolute in his prosecution of the Long War, but resoluteness at least implies a certain proactivity or initiative in regards to the roll a person plays in achieving a goal. To be certain our president has been proactive in issuing the orders necessary to take the fight to our enemy but, issuing orders isn't the only Presidential duty. A POTUS is also supposed to be an advocate for the Country, his Party, and his agenda. In his roll as advocate he has a powerful weapon in the Bully Pulpit. Some are more adept at wielding that weapon than others, but a President whether silver-tongued or awkward and plain-spoken, has a duty to exploit it relentlessly, for maximum effect.

Unfortunately for our war effort, and the smattering of conservative goals the President lays claim to, his use of the Bully Pulpit has been somewhat less than relentless, I'd say sporadic at best. He will latch on to the cause du-jour, do a publicity sweep for a week (invariably in front of receptive audiences), and then apparently somnambulate for the intervening weeks until external (and for all I know internal) pressures dictate that he must once again sally forth on another monopronged speaking tour.

But thankfully this sword cuts two ways.

This ostensibly conservative president is usually not much more enthusiastic about touting his agenda items which run contrary to conservative principals. The only time he ever does seem to exude some degree of passion, is when he gets the chance to attack his own base. Perhaps for that reason, and that reason alone we may see two weeks of impassioned pleading by the President on behalf of the incredible lunacy called comprehensive immigration reform; once he's recovered from his post G8 jet lag.