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Published on Friday, April 5, 2002 by CommonDreams.org
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“…on the Phone All Morning Long Talking to World Leaders”
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by Bill C. Davis
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Recently, the press, uncharacteristically, pressed Bush. They questioned him about his lack of engagement in the Middle East. He laughed at the question and defensively retorted that those who were criticizing him “must not have been with me in Crawford when I was on the phone all morning long talking to world leaders." Putting the tone of his response aside, another more qualified leader might have responded by being quite specific about to whom he was speaking and what was said. The glossy picture of Bush on the phone was indeed broadcast to the world as the Middle East was unraveling, but it looked like a pose. His response to the question sounded like a pose.
Bush talking to or about world leaders was something many of us dreaded. World leaders must work from the cerebral cortex rather than the brain stem. World leaders who have passion also have vision so they can speak and engage with other leaders with passion and vision. Leaders who have ambition work with blinders and ultimately cease to be leaders. They are puppets and careerists and can’t listen much less see. Bush and whatever forces put him in charge of our military do not have vision. They have ambition. They are brain stem and they have blinders. Although it may be intended, Bush on the phone with world leaders is not a picture that is consoling. The fact that the European Union has essentially given a vote of no confidence to the Bush administration is not something we can dismiss. Leaders with vision talking to leaders with ambition may have a chance. Bush is disqualified from participating in any negotiations that require long-range, historical or peripheral vision. We do not have a statesman in charge of our military. We have a salesman – a game-show host – a manager from the World Wrestling Federation. Rumsfeld, as a satellite for this ambitious administration, demonstrated his blinders as he chastised the press for asking questions about the possibility of our government engaging in the practice of torture, or knowingly allow torture for Abu Zubaydah, the freshly captured Qaeda leader. How could these reporters be the least bit concerned about a man who has promoted terrorism and trained terrorists? I have it right, barked Rumsfeld. His ambition blinded him to the fact that these questions are based more in a concern for us than for this man who is a variation of many radical and single mindedly violent participants in the world drama. These questions were not about protecting this man but about finding out where we are and what we are becoming. Rumsfeld could only see that he had the right not to be concerned about this one man the way Bush felt that he had the right and duty to preside and allow every death penalty executed while he was governor. Brain stem gets the crown, gives the orders and leads the way. Adam Shapiro had breakfast with a leader and as result his parents received death threats. The young man from Brooklyn who put his body between the combatants in Ramallah is a great American and ironically enough more of an ambassador for the teachings of Christ than the man who announced his candidacy with the picture of Jesus behind him. In a mythic region where the church of the Nativity is now a battleground, a young man named Adam made a bid for peace to a world leader held hostage by a region’s commitment to violence. He had breakfast with a man who neither Cheney nor Bush would speak to as if not speaking to him is smart and proper policy. Adam spoke to him the way Christ spoke to every outcast when He was alive. Adam did what leaders with a passion do. He laid his life on the line and talked face to face to a world leader about his vision for peace. The young peace activist may not be the second coming that the world is clamoring for but instead of Bush talking all morning long to world leaders let Adam have breakfast with Arafat. In fact, let Adam lead the way. Bill C. Davis is a playwright http://www.billcdavis.com/ ### |