Dry Drunk

Little did anyone, myself included, suspect when YOU (or, possibly, someone you thought you knew) first elected that dry-drunk, George W. Shrub, to the Presidency, what a blood-thirsty little tyrant that chickenhawk jerk would would turn out to be.

Under the guise of liberating the Iraqi people, and more importantly, castrating Saddam by destroying his Weapons of Mass Distraction, sorry, Destruction, he has single-handedly disemboweled the Constitution, abolished Habeus Corpus, kidnapped vaguely named American Citizens and thrown them into the CIA Archipelago (which holds it's own, any day, against the KGB's Archipelago of old) in far-flung "client-nations" of ours... far away from the prying eyes of left-wing snoops/do-gooders here Stateside.

I'm disgusted by the recent articles in the NYTimes regarding our treatment, I repeat OUR treatment, of Jose Padilla, a US citizen, in military brigs over the last three years. If you're unaware of his story, I'd advise you to read it. You'll be appalled at what WE'VE been countenancing by our silence lately.

I once characterized our president as being an "untreated alcoholic". I stand by that assessment, one alkie to another. I've been to a few thousand meetings in my time and I know what untreated alcoholism looks like.

It looks self-righteous. It is blind and deaf in it's denial that there is any truth other than their truth. It is childish, grandiose and overly sensitive. It is quick to anger and lash out. It takes itself very seriously. Being around it is like walking on eggshells. You never know what's going "to set it off." Eventually, everything in the House becomes "about" it. Plans are subject to change without notice. Promises are made and broken on the spur of the moment, and without a thought to the effect it has on others. Yesterday's rules suddenly no longer apply and God help you if you don't know today's rules without prompting. It pigheadedly pursues ephemeral goals, even in the face of catastrophe. And, finally, it hopes to achieve those goals by insanely performing the same actions, over and over and over again, in the hopes of achieving a different, better, result the next time.

That is the classic definition of an untreated alcoholic. Whether they drink or not.

I was kind of hoping that the elections would turn out to be our president's "bottom." Alkies need to hit a "bottom" before they'll acknowledge their powerlessness. It seemed for a moment like it had. The firing of Rummy was a tantalizing tease. The arrival of Daddy's Rescue-Squad held promise.

But I'm afraid I was kidding myself. I'm seeing telltale signs that this President has merely applied fresh lipstick to his pig, in the hopes of making it more attractive. Even with new deck chairs, this administration is still the Titanic.

And there is only one treatment for the co-dependent who is trapped in a relationship with a drunk.

It's time for the rest of America to start going to Al-Anon.