BUSH HATES AND FEARS THE ELITISTS? HE HATES HIMSELF?

“Yale had not been an easy ride for young George, even as an Andover graduate, a fraternity man, and a member of Skull and Bones. Ordinarily, those credentials would have allowed him to rule the campus, but as George told one of his Yale advisers, he felt his childhood in Texas set him apart socially from the more polished easterners who had similar resumes. He felt he was looked down upon by “snobs” and “elitists.” He also felt alienated on the liberal campus, because of his father’s conservative politics. In fact, he came to despise what he called “arrogant liberal intellectuals.” (THE FAMILY, p. 267)

“He felt he was looked down upon by ‘snobs’ and ‘elitists’.” (THE FAMILY, p. 267)


And if you don’t think that George Bush is a puffed up, arrogant prick, think about what his comment on the destruction of the elite system at Yale reveals about his conflicted values:

“George did not realize it at the time, but his class was one sweep in front of the dustpan. The class of 1968 was the last legacy class in which the sons of alumni were almost automatically accepted, thereby rewarding those with the most advantages. After 1968, admissions to Yale were to be based on merit. No more preferences for private schools; no more Social Register requirements. No more quotas for Jews.

“The year after George’s graduation the freshman class had more students from public and parochial schools than private schools for the first time in Yale’s history. Women were admitted (‘That’s when Yale really started going down hill,’ said George W. without a trace of humor); the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps was banished from campus; the dress code of jackets and ties was abolished. Fraternities, which the class yearbook described as a “benign irrelevancy,” soon disappeared, and even the secret societies lost some of their allure as more and more students began turning down taps, even from Skull and Bones.” (THE FAMILY, p. 268)


Bush Jr., if he were judged by the same standards that he and the neocons use to judge others, would come out very poorly, for don’t they tell people to quit whining and to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and to get a life? So what did Georgie do with all the benefits and opportunities in the world? Did he use them wisely or did he self-pity and booze himself into academic failure? He threw his opportunity away on booze and self-pity and to this day won’t take responsibility for himself. Instead, he blames and hates those who did not waste their privileged opportunities.

Some of us a tiny bit familiar with psychology will recognize that Georgie was not actually rebelling against Yale; he was rebelling against his absentee father and his grandfather and all their Connecticut and Kennebunkport hoity-toity upbringing which his Texas training taught him to hate. You would think with his newfound power over the people that his self-worth would have increased to the point that he would not be so afraid of who he is, really and truly down deep inside, but I think his going over to fundamentalism short-changed him by allowing him to imagine he is doing god’s will rather than his own. If Georgie took responsibility for what he’s doing rather than imagining that god is speaking through him, he might be more responsible and have to eventually come to terms with his inner demons. Bush, like so many of his conservative fellows, has identified with the abuser rather than opposing abuse, so he spreads and amplifies America’s abusive under-culture rather than helping to end it.
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“The rich are the scum of the earth in every country.” —G.K. Chesterton [This is humor? The Bushes are funny?]