German Papers Bush Version 2.1 Crashes
German newspapers have not, to say the least, generally used kid gloves when writing about US President George W. Bush. From his early decision to back away from the Kyoto Protocol right through the invasion of Iraq, they have been -- minus a brief break following the Sept. 11 attacks -- consistently questioning the American president's every move. And now that his second term is becoming bogged down in scandal, ineptness and mistakes, commentators for the Germany's major dailies can hardly believe their luck.
Friday's indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, has fueled the most recent round of Teutonic Bush bashing. Libby was charged with misleading investigators looking into the divulging of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. Karl Rove, one of Bush's most trusted advisors may be next. For German editorialists on Monday, it's all part of a pattern.
Which pattern? The center-right daily Süddeutsche Zeitung notes in its Halloween commentary that there seems to be a curse on presidential second terms. Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and now Bush all ran into second-term roadblocks. The primary problem facing Bush, at the moment, is his reliance on his advisors, the paper argues. And it is exactly those advisors who are creating many of his problems. "More than any other president in recent history, Bush has made himself dependent on a small circle of advisors centered on Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush hasn't only depended on them, but has also let them take over some control. They should now advise the president to fire his advisors if he wants to improve things. That, however, is hardly to be expected."
The Financial Times Deutschland likewise points -- in an editorial called "Bush, Version 2.1" -- to the long list of presidents before Bush who encountered problems in their second terms. But it points out that, at the heart of Bush's problems is the style with which he leads: "Discipline and loyalty have become equated with a bunker mentality and the browbeating of political opponents." While the paper admits that the use of special prosecutors carries with it a raft of problems, it is a positive development that the US is finally engaged in a debate about the war in Iraq. Now, it is time for Bush to act if he doesn't want to become a lame duck. "When Reagan was facing the Iran-Contra Affair in 1987, he took the opportunity to re-build his cabinet. Bush could do the same."
Traditionally hard on the US president, the left-leaning Berlin daily, Berliner Zeitung, indulges wholeheartedly in the anti-Bush tirade on Monday. "When George W. Bush became president of the US five years ago, he wanted to do everything differently. After the sex scandals of his predecessor, Bush wanted to reintroduce morals to the White House." But, the paper argues, that hasn't happened. "In the last few weeks, it has become clear that the president himself lacks respect for the office. One year into his second term -- with the knowledge he cannot campaign for a third -- Bush seems primarily concerned with his own legacy and does what he wants."
"Aside from a whole lot of time, US President George W. Bush doesn't have all that much to offer at the moment," writes the left-leaning Die Tageszeitung. And the paper is not at all optimistic that Bush will be able to find his way out of his current crisis. That, partially, comes from the sheer complexity of the canyon Bush has fallen in to. The problems are myriad and one of the most worrisome for Bush is that his own party is on his case and the man who used to be there to keep the Republicans in line, former House majority leader Tom DeLay, is "as good as in jail." And then there are the voters themselves who are "disappointed with a government that used the language of morals and rule of law more than any other." Bush, the paper concludes, is unlikely to be able to pull himself out of the current crisis.
