Thursday, Apr. 08, 2004
Condi, we could have been so happy..., posted at 3:25 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com So I think my most significant reaction to today's testimony by Condoleezza Rice is that I don't think she's that hot anymore. Something about her attractiveness was all about her steely, fierce intelligence, and she just didn't seem to possess that today. Instead, she seemed cornered and defensive.Much of my problem with the current administration isn't so much the policies, although that certainly is a factor. I mean, yeah, Bush spends like he's a college student loose with his first credit card, and I'm not too pleased my grandkids will be paying off his debt. And, the war aside (because I'm just not freaking sure about that), I'm opposed to him in nearly every domestic issue that matters to me, from how to improve education to gay marriage to capital punishment. But what bothers me most about the administration isn't all that, because that's what I expected. The reason I have such a visceral negative reaction to him is because he and his administration are just so damned arrogant. There's never any gray area, never anything beyond black and white. Shades of grey are important to me, or at least a person's ability to see those shades and display them. I feel like Bush can't.
Today, Dr. Rice didn't. Not once did she say something as simple as Richard Clarke said last week when he said, "Your government failed you, and I failed you." Nothing like that. She talked about the structural problems and argued semantics. Doesn't she realize that all people wanted to hear was that somebody, or some organization, or the government in general, just screwed up in some way? That they should have done better? Cuz it should have. Obviously. I wanted to hear that, and I know the families did too. Concession is not weakness, it's human, and unfortunately Rice missed the opportunity to display any. And she seemed like a trapped animal while she was doing it.
Anyhow, Dr. Rice (I would have loved to call her that...), you're going to have to find some other man half your age to sweep you away. We're through.