EAGLES WITHOUT WINGSAnother missed opportunity to spread the Doctrine of Freedom
Press aides to President Bush have been reluctant to confirm whether he will or will not be attending the Beijing Olympic Games. White House press secretary Dana Perino commented this week that Bush "has been very clear that he believes that the right thing for him to do is to continue to press the Chinese on a range of issues, from human rights and democracy, political speech freedoms and religious tolerance, and to do that publicly and privately, before, during and after the Olympics." When pressed as to whether she could say if Bush will attend the opening ceremony, Perino said Wednesday, "I cannot."
Regardless of whether he goes now or does not, Bush has missed the boat in taking a leading role in boycotting the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Even Gordon Brown, who is not known to be the most eccentric of British PM’s, Nicholas Sarkozy and my girl Hillary Clinton have decided to boycott the opening ceremony in protest to China’s violent reaction to Tibet. Sources have confirmed that for financial reasons, Mach 3 has decided to involuntarily boycott the Olympics as well.
Bush is now stuck in a conundrum. If he decides to boycott, he will now be just another of those celebrity appearances catching onto a publicity wave. If he goes ahead to the games, then it will send a clear message that being friends with the Chinese is far more important than his doctrine of spreading freedom to the world. So facing this conundrum, Bush at present has decided not to do anything at all, which seems to be the pattern of this administration. Unfortunately, this ostrich in the sand approach of waiting for Dick, dad or Condi to make a choice does not work. Whatever decision or indecision Bush makes, this is another missed opportunity to advance the notion of freedom which has defined this Presidential term so far.
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