A Big Stick

When George H. W. Bush first became our president, I winced to hear his voice or see his image. He might have been an animated Disney character invented to portray the soft-hearted idiot side of America. Basically, the association of the man with the title "President", the presidential seal, the Oval Office, or any of our scepters of supreme executive power was embarrassing. But now I've got used to him. The initial horror has faded to a sort of chuckling "what's George been up to now?" attitude as his second,and legally-mandated last, term winds down, overshadowed in the political cosmos by the antics of a fresh flight of presidential hopefuls.
Now, when NPR exerpts a public statement from President Bush, I lean in close and quiet my work to concentrate on his voice, the same way I sink happily into an easy chair to watch the Colbert Report: I know I will be greatly entertained. Today was no different when his warning to Iran after ambivalent naval action in the Strait of Hormuz was broadcast:
"There will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple," Bush said. "And my advice to them is: Don't do it." (The actual audio file is even better: just imagine an inarticulate, stuttering pause after "they", and of course, the "don't do it" delivered with slow-paced solemnity.)
Again, our most amusing president has fulfilled my usual expectations of ineloquent, totally obvious 'straight talk'.