Howard Fineman adopts the Howard Sutherland view of Bush

Fineman at the MSNBC website writes:

Though I’ve never heard him use the term, my guess is that George W. Bush sees himself as a hacendado, an estate owner in Old Mexico.

That would give him a sense of Southwestern noblesse, duty-bound not just to work “his” people, but to protect them as well.

His advisor, Carlo Rove, has explained that a system called “democracy” now gives peasants something called “the vote.” It would be shrewd, Rove said, for hacendados to grant their workers’ citizenship.

That’s the best explanation I have for why Bush is in the midst of what may be a suicide mission on immigration policy—embarrassing for him and ruinous for his party.

While Fineman, a standard issue Beltway liberal, shares our amazement that Bush is making war on his own base, that’s as far as his agreement with us goes. In fact, he condemns our side in stereotypical, Frankfurt School terms as psychologically distorted people who “need enemies,” whether it’s Communists, or immigrants, or the Mainstream Media.

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Alongside the hacendado theory, RB offers yet another theory of Bush::

Bush’s continuing obstinate obsession with bringing in millions of Hispanics reminds me of the character on Seinfeld, Elaine’s friend, who having just met Jerry’s parents develops a bizarre attraction for them. He takes them everywhere, shows, restaurants and so on, and finally ends up feeling guilty that he hasn’t done enough for them. I have disagreed with Bush’s policies for years, but for the first time, I’m beginning to worry about his mental stability—frightening to think that he has his finger on the “button”.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 12, 2007 04:14 PM | Send