Maybe if his father had told him he loved him a little more, we
I’m officially convinced that when the histories of the George W. Bush presidency come to written some 25 years from now–the average time needed for perspective, and always assuming we’re still here–we’ll find that a whole lot of his problems with job performance, not to mention personality, will come down to that good old favorite, “daddy issues.” Keep in mind that we’ve seen Bush Sr. criticize his son implicitly in a speech, while Jr. tries to show up his father by doing what he wouldn’t (oust Saddam) and carrying on a full-out assault on the CIA, his father’s former place of employment. And now, this: George H. W. Bush is bestowing an award that bears his name (and so that of his son)…on Ted Kennedy. Who has been, as you might imagine, one of the more vociferous critics of Jr. in Washington.
Anyone need glasses to read between those lines? Obviously, many if not most of us have a minefield to negotiate when it comes to our parents, and I wouldn’t make fun of Jr. for it if not for one obvious point: Most of us don’t have the lives of other people’s children to play with to satisfy our own neurotic needs.
