Less Than Zero: Bush's Farewell Visit to Germany

George W. Bush must long for the old days when a visit to Germany would bring out thousands of protesters.  Do you remember when he transformed the city of Mainz into a ghost town in 2005? Do you recall when his lightning massage of Angela caused an international uproar? And as recently as last summer a visit by Bush to the G-8 summit could cause a full-scale riot in Rostock. But now, on his farewell tour, Bush's visit is met with yawns, mixed with an equal measure of contempt and relief - relief that the nightmare of his presidency is nearly over.

Vor dem Besuch Bushs auf Schloss Meseberg bei Berlin am Dienstag und Mittwoch ist alles ganz anders. Es gibt keine Globalisierungsgegner, die Großdemonstrationen organisieren, und keine Oppositionspolitiker, die lange Forderungskataloge an den US-Präsidenten richten. Die öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit ist bisher nicht viel größer, als wenn sich ein Staatschef aus Mexiko oder Brasilien angekündigt hätte. (Ahead of the visit by Bush to the Meseberg Castle outside of Berlin on Tuesday and Wednesday everything is different this time. There are no globalization protesters organizing huge demonstrations, no politicians with their list of demands for the president.  So far the public interest in Bush's visit is not much greater than if the head of state from Mexico and Brazil were to visit.)

Mexico or Brazil?  What an insult! The FT Deutschland calls the visit more of a "wellness tour" for George and Laura Bush.  They can stroll through the gardens with Angela Merkel and her husband and not have to worry about meeting rude political leaders from the Green Party, much less the "commie" LEFT party, who might ask him embarrassing questions about the torture policy of his administration:

Andere Politiker haben die Visite in den letzten Tagen genutzt, um sich möglichst weit von dem Präsidenten zu distanzieren. Der Tenor quer durch alle Parteien: Bushs Regierungszeit war ein Desaster. Den meisten Volksvertretern dürfte es daher ganz recht sein, den Texaner nicht mehr treffen zu müssen. (In the last few days other politicians have taken advantage of the visit to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the president.  The common thought that crosses all party lines: Bush's presidency was a disaster. Most of the representatives are only too glad that they won't have to meet with the Texan ever again.)

As far as I know, President Bush has not asked to meet with Murat Kurnaz from Bremen, so that he could apologize for detaining and torturing the young man in Guantanamo for five years, even though the US military knew he had no terrorist connections. As far as I know , President Bush has not asked to meet with Khalid el-Masri, a German citizen, to apologize for the "unfortunate mix-up" where US intelligence kidnapped him off the street and flew him to a Black Site in Afghanistan where he was tortured. As far as I know, President Bush does not intend to apologize to the German people for using the US air base at Ramstein as a CIA "Drehscheibe" (hub) for rendition flights.

Being George W. Bush means never having to say you're sorry.

Comments

[Hattie]

David, I could not access your blog for a while. I guess Type Pad fixed the problem.