The Executioner's Holiday

It was surprising that President George W. Bush did not attend the ceremony honoring the late, former President Gerald R. Ford under the Capital Dome last Saturday. It makes sense that Vice President Richard Cheney would give a eulogy in that ceremony, given his previous relationship with the late President. But President Bush's complete absence from the proceedings was odd. Bush did not appear at the equivalent ceremony for former President Ronald Reagan in 2004, but Bush was then hosting the G-8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia. During the remembrance for Ford, Bush was in Crawford, Texas, with no apparent scheduling conflicts.

Was Bush’s absence simply disregard for a "lesser" President? Was it pique at Woodward's revelation that Ford opposed the Iraq War? Was it the same lazy inertia that kept Bush in Crawford at the beginning of Katrina? Why would Bush pass up the most positive of photo ops?

It has been an odd week or so, a confluence of high-profile endings. The death of James Brown, not just a musician, but also an important element in and commentator of social change from the 1960s. Then came Ford's passing, immediately followed by Bob Woodward's previously recorded interviews with Ford. And, finally, the announcement and execution of Saddam Hussein's death sentence.

These news-cycle-worthy events occurred during the period of Bush's "listening tour" and planning new policy for Iraq, designed to help the attention-deficit prone American public forget that the Iraq Study Group ever existed. It seems that The Decider is performing a strategic procrastination, dillydallying to avoid doing something willynilly in the midst of the hullaballoo and hurlyburly that is Iraq – at least that’s the idea. (This is what happens to writers who read Safire's "On Language" column.) Also, the other member of the Iraq War Club, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was vacationing at Robin Gibbs' home in Miami.

Now this would have been perfect timing for Saddam’s execution, with the leaders of both the US and UK out of range, during the holidays with it’s slow news cycles. But Ford’s death and the following commemorations threw a monkey wrench into the works, forcing various members of the Administration into the public eye, except, apparently, for Bush. It doesn’t seem right that the 3 hours a day that Bush is working on Iraq would prevent him from attending.