Bush is the new O.J.

I watched an interview with O.J. Simpson a few years back. Walking on the street, someone came up and asked him for his autograph. He smiled and obliged only to be rebuked when the woman said, "I never met anyone that was a murderer before." It was an awkward moment, but it left me realizing he was never going to be free. Too many people knew what he did. He can no longer find any type of socialization in this society.

Bush is like that now. Bush is the new O.J.; the Hunchback of Notre Dumb; an outcast, and he doesn’t even know it yet. All Presidents get secret service protection for life, but he may be the first President in the history of the U.S. to actually need that protection. He may have a less than 30% approval rating, but what the polls don’t show are the muffled masses that consider the man a criminal and a murderer. Others justifiably consider him the great ‘betrayer,’ by ignoring his oath of office to protect the constitution. Either way he won’t have many fans after he leaves office.

What will life be like for the newest ex-president? I imagine protests in front of his new 200 million dollar library. Who protests a library? Anyone pissed off at 200 million dollars as a monument to war, so we may see a few people turn out. I also imagine that his name will be used as a metaphor like Hitler to describe power without restraint. I’m sure it will morph into something like, "the Bush path of disaster," or a country destroyed through war suffered a "Bush."

As an ex-president, Bush will be relegated to celebrity golf tournaments until he becomes annoyed at the spectators who boo and hiss as he walks by. That annoyance will grow to anger and feelings of betrayal as he refuses to understand the public’s outrage. Eventually he will close himself off from the public like Howard Hughes. And there, tucked away on top of the newly designed Desert Inn and Presidential library, Bush will end up wearing Kleenex boxes on his feet and collecting his fingernail clippings in a big jar. Friends and pundits will begin referring to him as the ex-President, Montgomery Burns or just as "ex."

What’s sad about this is how his family will become pariah’s as well. His daughters already have to deal with total strangers yelling that daddy deserves to go to prison. I saw that myself in downtown Austin, on 6th street. Like Eva Braun to his Hitler, Laura will have to endure the public scorn as well. I honestly feel bad for her. Even though Papa Bush was no angel, we all forgave his sins when he vomited all over the Japanese Prime minister. That never stops being funny. But now, he may have to wear a cup when he goes out, for fear of someone wanting to celebrate Dubya by christening his beginnings with their foot.

Looking for a metaphor

O.J. isn’t the right metaphor. O.J. got off. I don’t think Bush will elude prison unless the next president pardons him. But there’s a problem with finding a metaphor for Bush. Considering the number of deaths that can be attributed to the man, he’s a huge step above serial killer and one step below Stalin and Hitlers’ genocidal history. Which forces us to try and evaluate Bush’s 600,000 Iraq deaths as opposed to Hitlers’ 6 million or Stalin’s 12 million, and those kind of arguments are better left for Bush’s buddy Jesus. I’m sure Tony Snow will argue the point, declaring only 4 thousand coalition war dead. The problem is, that’s still a thousand more than died in 9/11. And much more than any serial killer.

Bush wants history be the judge of his Presidency. Unfortunately for Bush, he won’t have to wait long. History will be written in the court records of his trial. For this country to have any type of closure, the secrecy he hides behind must be torn away. When that happens, O.J. Simpson will start looking good.