I want to go to Washington, D.C.

It’s Presidents Day, and while I suppose I ought to crack wise about the current individual occupying the Oval Office, there’s nothing I can say to match the increasingly surreal and bizarre pronouncements that have been coming from G.W. Bush’s mouth since the November elections. In any other sphere, the sort of delusional behavior exhibited by Bush and VP Cheney in their recent public appearances would be grounds for a psychological evaluation.

The lone hero who sticks to his guns despite overwhelming opposition is a powerful mythic archetype in American culture, and though Bush may see himself acting in that role, there has to be a point where the sheer weight of evidence to the contrary comes into play. A conductor who rides a train over a precipice because he puts more stock in his faith than in any fancy-pants reports about the bridge being out is not being heroic.

Bush has nominally acknowledged that some mistakes were made with his Iraq policy, but they have amounted to little more than a PR gesture nothing in the way of sincere contrition or introspection. In a manner typical of compulsive gamblers on a losing streak, he’d rather stake it all (read: other people’s lives and America’s wealth and credibility) on a double or nothing spin of the wheel than cut his losses and walk away.

I’d make a comment about how these are the same folks who’ve repeatedly suggested government should be run more like a business, but their brand of capitalism has nothing to do with Adam Smith and everything to do with subsidies, bailouts, and non-competitive sweetheart deals. It’s Soviet-style cronyism wearing a market-friendly face.

Pay no attention to the reams of empirical evidence to the contrary, comrades. That’s just defeatist propaganda being spread by those who hate all that is good and decent about our perfect society. Trust in the proclamations of your glorious leaders, and they…I mean, all of you will benefit by our inevitable triumph.

Slow Children – President Am I (from Slow Children, 1981) – Nice quirky new wave out of Los Angeles. It’s a pity that so many worthy American wave acts got lost in the shuffle between the novelty phase of the late 70’s and the genre’s fashion conscious, Brit-predominant MTV-driven surge.

Eighth Route Army – Vice Presidente (from a 1982 single) – Despite being a relatively obscure band, I remember there being a lot of Eighth Route Army stickers, graffiti, and punk jacket patches/paintings around Boston in the late 80’s and early 90’s.