Previously this blog has contained references to the possibility that the President has serious mental problems, which are being managed by a drug cocktail. This is coupled with the characterological defect of the President, in that he is a dry drunk - that is someone who displays the same temperament of a drunk in terms of bouts of anger and denial of responsibility, while at the same time is not drinking.
It is alleged the President fired CIA director Tenet during one of these displays of temper. This would be consistent with a dry drunk, who, under the stress the President must clearly be under, would not be willing to be responsible for the unraveling of his administration and would look around himself for others to blame.
The fact is that we would not directly see the President meltdown (his lead staff would try to hide it), although we could see this meltdown indirectly through the behaviors of those closest to him.
It is a difficult problem to hold together a crazy man. This "holding together" explains why Condoleezza Rice says such ridiculous complimentary things about Bush. She seems to be his most intimate advisor, upon whom has fallen the job of massaging his ego, and keeping him believing in his own destiny.
Ms. Rice was on the television this week, first making comments about the work in Europe during the President's recent tour there, and then making comments on the death of former President Reagan. Her speech is what we in the field of mental health call "pressured" - rapid delivery, with a certain emotional intensity not in proportion to the actual matter being discussed. The pauses do not allow for proper and normal breathing.
During the tour press conference, she also was clearly under a great deal of stress, with her voice barely able to hide its wavering emotional modulation. This would be consistent with those demands being made upon her psychologically if she has become the main staff person responsible for holding the President together.
The real danger that I see, beyond this, is that the current President Bush is obsessed with winning a second term in order to show up his father. This can be a powerful driver in a consciousness which is not well disciplined to begin with, and where this idea leads is to the question of how far will the junior Bush go, to top his father's presidency.
Let us hope and pray that in these observations I am entirely wrong.
p -
