In what might seem to some to be an obvious statement, George Bush is not America. Not now, nor ever. George Bush is quite simply the man who has been elected President. American presidents come and go, America itself has stuck around for quite a while.
This is a point that Tim Dunlop has been pushing, quite rightly, this week at Blogocracy. The Australian Government and the media keep toeing the line that Australia's relationship with American is all about the relationship between George Bush and John Howard. They seem to ignore the fact that George Bush is now a deeply unpopular president pursuing deeply unpopular policies and that Australia's best interests are not necessarily served by having a close relationship politically or personally with Bush.
Last year the American public demonstrated their distaste for George Bush's foreign policy in the congressional elections. If George Bush doesn't have the capacity to understand this then maybe his "friend", John Howard, should help him out by not supporting his push for a "surge" in Iraq.
Whoops: I accidentally stole my title from one of Tim's earlier posts on this topic.
