Long Live Mandela

Recently, in a White House press conference Mr. Bush seemed to imply, or rather, state, that Nelson Mandela was dead.

Defending his stand on the war, Mr. Bush said Saddam Hussein's brutality made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge to halt civil warfare that has torn Iraq apart.

"I heard somebody say, 'Where's Mandela?'," Mr Bush said. "Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas."
- From The Herald Sun


Mandela, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 – 1999, and is not dead, was inundated with calls to confirm that he is in fact alive. Considering Mandela has been critical of the Bush Administration – especially concerning its lack of cooperation with the UN – perhaps Mr. Bush meant “dead to me” – which is decidedly different.

Say what you may, this would have never happened to Clinton.

The trouble seems to be that when people ask Mr. Bush a question, he takes it as a personal affront, rather than answering the question in a way that would pose a solution in which we work together.

Perhaps no one ever bought Bush one of those inspirational “T.E.A.M.” posters. Get one to the Oval Office, stat!


* Also of note – doing a Google News search for ‘Nelson Mandela’ – returned only 6 articles – from Canada, Germany, Taiwan, and Australia. None from major US news outlets. Granted, this story broke a couple days ago, so in fairness, I looked up the other big story of that day – George Clooney’s fractured rib. Over 300 articles. (If only the “somebody” Bush mentioned had instead asked “Where’s Clooney?” -- Bush would have had a better answer.)