Call Me a Party Pooper

The Washington Post printed an article today written by retired Washington lawyer, Bernard Ries. In the article Ries expresses his utter dismay at the prospect of George Bush putting on an excessively lavish and expensive inaugural bash, costing more than 40$ million, to celebrate his second term as President. The whole idea is unseemly, wrote Ries, at a time when so many Americans and countless Iraqis are dying and suffering horrific injuries on a daily basis in Iraq, not to mention the unfathomable tragedy in Southest Asia on December 26th.

Historically, there have been times when inaugural events have been appropriately curtailed in wartime. Lincoln (1865) and FDR (1945) both had very simple inaugurals. In 1945, FDR made a short speech at the White House, had a buffet luncheon of chicken salad and pound cake, and that was all. No parade, not a single ball. He knew something about propriety, says Ries. Of course, it goes without saying, that George Bush has no such good judgement. And he is apparently surrounded by hundreds of others who are similarly afflicted with lack of sensitivity and grace. The Bush mentality is to just have a great time at everyone else's expense. For example, who do we think will be paying for the DC police during the inaugural activities? We, the taxpayers, of course. In 1985, Reagan cancelled his parade due to weather, thus saving us $15 million for District police security. Bush would do well to curtail his merriment this year. After all, he has already had his inaugural party in 2001 which cost $40 million. Reis asks, "How many $40 million fetes is one man entitled to...?" The self-indulgence is sickening.

We could do without the nine official balls, fireworks, and, oh, yes, the white chocolate cowboy boots at the Ritz-Carlton, could we not?

Reis concludes, "...what is required is a sign of true respect and sorrow, of sacrifice of a national symbol, that will acknowledge and honor both our fighting forces and the calamity of the tsunami." We will instead have the opposite, thus further demonstrating to the world by this embarrassing spectacle our utter lack of caring and our enormous capacity for having fun while others suffer unimaginable agonies. We should be hanging our heads right about now.

[Click on the blog title to read the WaPo article in full.]