American Politics Journal

The View from Europe
Biting Off More Than He Can Chew
by Nicola Mitchell

Jan. 21, 2002 -- LONDON (APJP) -- In the past American presidents have generally been a tough breed. They've survived assassination attempts, serious illness and some of the biggest political scandals the world has ever seen, but, as if we were in any doubt as to his credentials to hold down the job of President, it appears it takes little more than a pretzel to floor George W.

I mean, a pretzel of all things! And for starters, what on earth was he doing trying to swallow the thing whole in the first place? In fact, come to think of it, maybe there was no pretzel involved in the incident at all, maybe it was just down to Laura Bush trying to knock a bit of sense into her man, as after all, there are a number of conflicting reports as to her whereabouts when the attack by the salted snack took place.

But, whatever the case, the UK papers have gone mad for the 'Pretzelgate' story which has been keeping us all entertained over the past few days.

If Bush thinks a fiendish attack by a troublesome snack is going to draw attention away from the real issue surrounding the White House -- namely the administration's involvement in Enron -- then he needs to think again.

Although the story broke several weeks ago in the US, only in the past few days has it really started to dominate the headlines in the UK press. Did Bush really think that by attempting to show he was 'just one of us', a football-watching, pretzel-eating, normal guy, as thousands of people lose their life savings while the corporate fat cats amassed personal fortunes for themselves, that we would forget all the scandal that's surrounding him?

The problem is, he's not one of us. He comes from a rich family. He made his money through family connections, questionable baseball deals and, most importantly, the oil industry.

Questions of campaign finance misdeeds were raised throughout the 2000 election, but were soon swept under the carpet when the administration came to power. Nevertheless, we all know that big business, and in particular the energy industry, bought and paid for Bush's keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and he's certainly been repaying the favour ever since.

It doesn't take a genius to work out how Texas became one of the most polluted states in America -- not to mention the laws passed by the then-governor making it harder to bring lawsuits against big business in the state. Then of course, since he's taken up occupation of the White House, there have been tax breaks for the top 5%, the whole Kyoto debacle, and meetings with some of the world's richest executives to discuss energy policy.

The war in Afghanistan has served as a distraction to such conduct, but it finally appears that the administration has to face up to its actions. As the Enron saga plays out, each day seems to signal another lawsuit and another high-level member of the administration embroiled in the scandal.

So while we may not be completely sure exactly what has happened, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Dubya's administration has not handled itself the way it should, and it will certainly be interesting to see what Lieberman's investigation turns up and, as a result, how it will affect the prospects of a Bush stealing a second term.