It has occurred to me that President George W. Bush would be a shoo-in to play any of the main characters in The Wizard of Oz.  I am sure the part of Scarecrow (If I only had a brain) has already popped into the minds of everyone reading this. But a lack, at the very least, of mental preparedness and rigor is not the only characteristic qualifying the President for a leading role in this children's classic. How about auditioning for Tin Man, who had no heart? The total and callous disregard of the President for anyone not falling into the top one percent of this country's earners, not to mention his complete lack of compassion for those who are not working at all, certainly qualifies Bush for this important, pivotal and mechanical role. And last but certainly not least, the revelation that this President also cowered behind (maybe; there is no definitive proof that he even fulfilled his National Guard requirements and did this much) a pile of paperwork in Alabama rather than upgrade his air skills and join his comrades in the war in Vietnam, tells me that the part of the Cowardly Lion is his for the asking as well.

     But no, wait.  I am mistaken. Each of these characters, Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, actually desired those qualities, brainpower, a loving heart and courage, respectively; they did not merely lack them. George W. Bush shows no desire to remedy his weak points and the failures resulting from them. That of course would necessitate admitting to them in the first place. No, after thinking about it further, the only real part for which President Bush qualifies is that of the Wizard, a very ordinary man who hides behind a curtain of duplicity and fools the people into thinking he has the answers to all questions and magical powers to cure all the ills in the Kingdom. George W. Bush has neither.