Robert L. Terrell

U.S. television screens are filled these days with images of President Bush making the rounds in Beijing. Given the xenophobic perspectives of those who control the flow of images, every effort is being made to present him in a positive light.  Nonetheless, he appears to be a lost man in search of a real mission.

After dithering a few months ago regarding the possibility of boycotting the Olympics in order to protest China’s brutish campaign to quell demonstrations by Tibetans bent on independence, Bush announced that he would indeed attend the opening ceremony. This decision didn’t go down well with the rabidly anti-China segment of his domestic constituency. Possibly in response, he delivered a speech laced with tepid criticism of China the day before he entered the Middle Kingdom.

Since his arrival in Beijing, President Bush has apparently devoted the major portion of his time to jock-sniffing U.S. athletes. As a result, his frequent appearances on television while attending various athletic competitions combine to convey the impression of a confused man in search of something meaningful to do with his time. I might note the shots of him attending a Christian church service in Beijing in order to elaborate the point. After the service, President Bush stood before television cameras and opined about the importance of religious freedom. But it is hard to ignore the fact that his unsolicited comments about the subject would carry far more weight in the U.S., China, and the rest of the world, were it not for the base manner in which members of his administration have savaged the rights of Muslims over the past six years.

It seems reasonable to make a similar critical observation regarding President Bush’s hapless hectoring of China’s officials about the need for them to be more supportive of human rights. It is undeniable that China can and should do a great deal more to improve its support for human rights. Nonetheless, George W. Bush is probably the least appropriate person in the world at this moment to make that case. The op-ed cartoon recently featured in the San Francisco Chronicle captured the inescapable irony associated with his effort to lecture China’s leaders on the topic. In the cartoon President Bush is presented kowtowing before a Chinese leader seated on an ancient throne.  Bush is sermonizing about the importance of China supporting human rights. Unfortunately, he is standing in two buckets of hardening cement, one labeled “Afghanistan” and the other “Iraq.”

The point to be understood is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to take President Bush seriously. Having needlessly and heedlessly squandered the major portion of the goodwill associated with his position as leader of the so-called “free world,” here in the United States he is seen more and more these days as a national embarrassment.  The man who strode the planet just a few years ago claiming authority of the sort historically associated with conquering Roman Emperors,  is much diminished in impact, stature and credibility.

Brought to heel by disasters such as the Katrina holocaust, the Iraqi insurgency, torture scandals and the long running legal travesty unfolding in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it is difficult to see him as anything more than a little man possessed of archaic sensibilities and narrow vision. The opinion commonly expressed these days here in the United State is that the very last day of his term in office will not arrive soon enough.

Excepting his dog Barney, and members of his immediate family, virtually everyone else–including a massive segment of his Conservative base—has tuned him out. As a result, President George W. Bush has come to be seen as yesterday’s man.  He is vainly searching for face saving gestures that are proving to be too little too late. He has blown it, and it is time for him to leave. Thus, his curiously unfocused sojourn to Beijing is more than a little sad.