A Dead Statesman

By Cindy Sheehan

I could not dig, I dared not rob,
And so I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue,
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale will serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?

Rudyard Kipling, A Dead Statesman

So the day is finally here, the last half day of the horrid Bush administration. George will be leaving with a 22% approval rating and the demented peace of mind that somehow history will vindicate him.

Before becoming a less than mediocre Governor of Texas, a job that incredibly propelled him into the most powerful position on the planet, George Bush failed at many business attempts. He could "not dig," but proved he could "rob" with the best of them so he went into politics and he and his administration were incredibly successful robbers: from our savings to our lives to our peace of mind to our civil rights to our jobs to our reputation: they stole everything they could get their bloody hands on during the last eight years. While many of us struggle day-to-day to make ends meet; Bush and his buddies are riding high on the hog of pork doled out to cronies with oil companies realizing tremendous profits. None of this is new…I have been writing and railing about it for almost five years now as have scores of others.

The above poem from Rudyard Kipling could have been written for George Bush, but really, for almost any President that has inhabited our White House in a long line of scoundrels. For heavens' sake, in very recent history, Truman dropped not one, but two nuclear bombs on Japan! Johnson got us well mired in Vietnam before slinking back to Texas (can you say, Gulf of Tonkin?), and Nixon had to resign when he was a few percentage points higher on the approval scale than George. Yet, George leaves in what many people term a "peaceful transition of power," when, in fact, many of us realize that the corporations and their money and influence bought our politicians and their seats decades ago in an underhanded, yet very successful coup.

There is no "change" without accountability for George and Dick and there is no "hope" without struggle (as MLK, Jr. said). The only change Obama brings, or will bring to the world will be purely cosmetic, such as closing Guantanamo without putting the ones who opened it in prison; or repealing "don't ask don't tell" without repealing the Defense of Marriage Act or guaranteeing everyone equal protection under the law.

George and Dick and their war profiteer pals have the distinction of killing more Iraqis than Saddam…who was a very "bad guy," and what happened to Saddam? He hung for his crimes after his trial in a Bushian kangaroo court. Obama supports the death penalty, but thinks we should look "forward" and allow the crimes of the new century perpetrated by BushCo to go unpunished. This is sooo not change---like I have said before it's continuity and Obama is proving that he will keep the empire intact and ready for the next passing of the imperial scepter to the next robber in four or eight years. Continuity you can take to the bank (if any are still open by then)!

I am still perplexed after almost five years of my personal suffering and eight years of universal suffering at how any person can take that scepter and slaughter millions with it and not blink an eye. George has bragged at how well he sleeps even with all the carnage he unleashed and the millions of people he has killed/maimed/displaced/diseased, or lives he has destroyed. To not be haunted by the faces of the dead is to be a psychopath, somebody who should be locked up and certainly not let-loose on the world. If there is any hint of humanity left in George (Dick's humanity train left the station long ago), then I hope the faces of those he "slew" haunt him. I know I won't let him forget the face of my son.

I started this essay with a poem from Kipling, and I want to end it with a poem my daughter wrote that began my activism after her brother was killed, and is just as timely today, the day before the next coronation, as it was in April 2004:

A Nation Rocked to Sleep
Carly Sheehan

Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
The torrential rains of a mother's weeping will never be done,
They say he's a hero, you should be glad he's one, but
Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?

Have you ever heard that sound of a father holding back his cries?
He must be brave because his boy died for another man's lies,
The only thing he allows himself is long deep sighs,
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?

Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
They say he died so the flag will continue to wave,
but I believe he died because they had oil to save.
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?

Have you ever heard the sound of a nation rocked to sleep?
The leaders want to keep you numb so the pain won't be so deep, but
If we the people let them continue, another mother will weep…
Have you ever heard the sound of a nation rocked to sleep?