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May 16, 2008

Middle East 101

Bush-Holy-Land-Map

It’s hard to see how Bush helps his cause in attacking Obama when the WH posts shots like this.  Captured at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on Friday, the photo — if attempting to demonstrate cultural and historical curiosity –  has the feeling of Middle East 101.

Accordingly, the pic not only reinforces Dubya’s geopolitical shortcomings, but lends weight to Obama’s counter, which is that the Bush foreign policy is purely naïve.

Bush Assails ‘Appeasement,’ Touching Off Storm (NYT)

Obama Says Bush and McCain Are ‘Fear Mongering’ (NYT)

Bush Saudi Arabia/Israel White House photo gallery (5/16/08)



(image:  Joyce N. Boghosian/White House.  Jerusalem Friday, May 16, 2008.  caption: President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush listen to Director Amanda Weiss as they tour the Bible Lands Museum. The museum illustrates the cultures of all the peoples mentioned in the Bible – from Egypt eastwards across the Fertile Crescent to Afghanistan, and from Nubia north to the Caucasian mountains. whitehouse.gov)

  • http://www.jaxxattaxx.com/ black dog barking

    Cultural aficion and President of the United States George W Bush leans forward to appreciate the nuance and subtlety of the bas-relief wall-mounted map of the Middle East. What could the head of America’s First Family be thinking at this moment?
    “Mmmm … oil.”

  • Gasho

    The look on his face tells me that he’s actually learning some small factoid.. he’s seeing something on the map that he didn’t see before. I don’t think he’s spent much time looking at maps like this — he’s gotten his direction from neocon white papers and breakfast table pep talks. In fact, I don’t think he’s put much thought into the whole adventure at all – he’s just tried to play his part and take orders from Dick and Rummy and Rove. Let them do the thinking and he’ll be the paper machete leader pulling the big levers… that’ll show his daddy that he can be a big man.
    Confronted with this map – he’s probably thinking, “Oh, so THIS is the Middle East. Now, where have I heard of THAT before?”

  • jtfromBC

    a quiet interlude for
    This Trash Talking Twit,
    no teary eyed response is evident here for
    “A Great Leader …blah blah blah… ”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY0oHCT68Ys

  • http://mdhatter.wordpress.com mdhatter

    So that’s the ‘green zone’?