A Half-Glass Full Kinda Guy

"Did Bush think he was standing next to a re-elected John Howard at his press conference with Kevin Rudd on Friday?

Most Americans grind their teeth when he's in the media now. Six months before he boards Airforce One headed for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, George W Bush's Presidency resembles a tragic play.

These days, Bush seems nothing less than the naïve, credulously optimistic hero stomping towards an ignominious end. What's the character flaw which will lead to his doom? Bush is a 'fatal optimist'.

On 19 March, just over a week before he met with Kevin Rudd, Bush declared that the US had "come so far and achieved so much" in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the US dead soldier count has reached 4000. Last week, the Iraqi Government attacked Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Southern Iraq."

So writes Charles McPhedran [who has worked for Triple J and SBS Radio News as a journalist, and is now completing a Masters of Political Science at the New School for Social Research in New York City] in a piece on newmatilda.com, here.

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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