An August of discontent

By Creature

Big news. The commander-in-chief will be on the job longer and seem more engaged this summer. Yay! Bush is in charge. And tell me, how is this supposed to make me feel better?

This year, Bush is cutting his down time to only 10 days — the shortest summer break of his presidency — against the backdrop of the Middle East in crisis, Baghdad beset by violence and Cuba in flux.

But it's all for show. Even the experts say so.

"Last summer, he was not seen as being on top of the job," says Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. "He doesn't want to be seen taking a whole month off right now. It doesn't look good."

Experts, my ass, we don't need no stinkin' experts -- we got Tony Snow and his keeping up of appearances.

White House press secretary Tony Snow says Bush is taking a shorter break not because of criticism but because he has other things to do, including campaigning for Republican candidates in the fall elections, pushing for immigration reform and attending a family wedding in Kennebunkport, Maine. He plans to be in Louisiana and Mississippi on the Aug. 29 anniversary of Katrina and might return to Crawford for two days after that.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be at the ranch, where they will monitor the Middle East, Iraq and the United Nations "He's going to be working a lot, and people are going to see it," Snow says.

Incredible, look how far we have come. Here is a press secretary trying to defend his boss' working habits. I like the assurance by Snow that "people are going to see it." Once again it's image over substance. It's not so much that the president and Condi will be discussing serious issues and "working a lot," it's the fact that people are going to see it that matters most.

The entire administration was seen as not being "on top of the job" last summer and for nearly the last six years. These guys not only want to drown they baby, they want to kill it with neglect. Government is rotting from the crony-inside out. You're on your own they tell us. A bird spreads its flu, you're on your own. A terrorist blows a bomb, you're on your own. A hurricane blows you down, you're on your own. So, it makes no difference if the president is on the job or "on top of the job," the government ain't here to help you. They are too busy helping themselves.

August will not be kind to this president. Vacation or no vacation, the appearance of hard work or of no work, none of it will help the president as Katrina one-year-later plays across our TV screens. The embarrassment will return as we see the floods and the outrage all over again. The embarrassment will return as we see the destruction still there. Katrina was the turning point. The wake-up call. The true defining event of a do-nothing president and his do-nothing friends.

Have a nice vacation, GWB. This month we are sure to remember.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)

Update: WaPo has more on Bush's upcoming 10-day vacation here. As to Steve Benen, Steve Soto, and The Heretik.

Elsewhere, The Guardian is reporting this: "Tony Blair today decided to delay his summer holiday for a few days to help secure a United Nations resolution that would call for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Lebanon conflict."

Bush or Blair? You decide. At least Blair, whatever his faults, seems to take his work seriously.