Leading by Stampeding

In one of those western metaphors so dear to the hearts of Republicans everywhere, you could say that George W. Bush's idea of leadership is more like stampeding a herd of cattle than leading a wagon train.

George W. Bush stampeded the United States into Iraq, but he didn't exactly lead the charge. "Bring it on!" he said, from the safety of the White House, and even after all these years George W. Bush has never been anywhere in Iraq except Baghdad Airport and a couple of airbases surrounded by miles of scorched earth.

Now Bush wants to stampede a trillion dollars of fiat currency into the accounts of the same bankers who bankrupted the United States, but instead of charging blindly ahead of our cowboy President, the Congressional Democrats are mooing angrily on TV.

Where is that other cowboy, the one in the white hat who promised to clean up our town and end "politics as usual," as if there were anything usual about the last eight years?

Barack Obama is leading, but only in the polls, and the beautiful sunset at the end of so many western movies is quickly going down on a lot of dreams.