Inside Bush's Brain...

Is an angry, disapproving, rigid and demanding mother. And you wonder why our foreign policy looks like someone with a real inferiority complex is making decisions?

So it's not Dick Cheney, it's not paterphilia, it's not Karl Rove. The mastermind behind George W Bush's presidency is...

Drumroll, please!

Barbara Bush!

This woman produced two presidents! The only one since Abigail Adams (another ass-kicker, btw). Is there any doubt? Plus, you've seen the Manchurian Candidate, right (not that lame remake, the black & white original)? Mrs. Iselin gave new meaning to "mother knows best".

Interestingly, this insight was most recently expressed in a puff piece on the Queen's visit to the White House. The reporter went on and on about how nervous W was, and how totally unimpressed the Queen was (not that he used the word "unimpressed", but read between the lines and you'll see that's the gist) with his behavior.

I've been trying to practice this whole thing called compassion, and this is good exercise. I actually really feel for Bush, having observed the relationships of many men and their powerful, demanding mothers:
Some reject the attempted control and go on to a life of mysoginism and sexual conquest.
Some reject it and go on to a life of doormat-women and emotional abuse.
Others accept it totally and go on to a life of worshipping powerful demanding women, even when they're totally insane.
Still others accept it and continue to seek out women who will control them - either overtly or covertly.
And yet others NEVER free themselves from their mothers!
It is the rare few who, through some miracle of consciousness and self-direction, become confident, successful men who know how to behave as an equal with a powerful woman.

[I'll take votes on which of these categories you think W fits into.]

Everything fits together: On the street today, I walked by a shop window with a slew of embroidered pillows with those little sayings on them. The one that caught my eye said:

"If it's not one thing, it's your mother."