KRISTOL'S AWAKENING. The convenient narrative employed by critics (and many reluctant defenders) to define Bill Clinton was that he was a self-absorbed Baby Boomer, a man so selfish in his appetites that if having sex with an intern meant potentially jeopardizing his administration, his legacy and his party's chances to hold the White House in 2000, well, so be it. He was a man who just couldn't control himself. I have long felt that George W. Bush is much more selfish. Surely the public unfolding of his personal psychodrama -- which involves defying his father and mother, and proving he's better than his baby brother -- is clear for all to see, a catalog that includes everything from rejecting advice from his biological father in favor of a "higher father's" wisdom on Iraq, to treating Andy Card as a cheeseburger-fetching lackey, to the expectation that leaders like Tony Blair would sacrifice their own legacies and reputations in service to "The Decider." And what, really, is laziness in one's work ethic (e.g., how Bush refuses to read much more than short, abstracted memos about live-and-death matters on everything from stays of execution in Texas to National Intelligence Estimates), or lack of curiosity about the world (which is merely an expression of the belief that other places, cultures and people aren't worth bothering to learn about), if not public expressions of private selfishness? Bush is a classic "dry drunk" -- a man who left the bottle but kept the temperament of a man who created a great deal of pain for his parents and even his wife because drinking was more important to him (until he was 40) than his adult obligations. From his time in the "champagne unit" of the Texas National Guard to his refusal to testify under oath to the 9/11 Commission, if there's a single common thread that weaves through Bush's life it is a defiant a refusal to take personal responsibility for his actions or inactions. So I have to laugh when Bill Kristol calls Bush "selfish" for refusing to step up and pardon Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Welcome to the reality-based community, Bill, where selfish is as selfish does, and one man's need to work through his personal demons comes at the expense of thousands of dead or wounded Americans, millions of dead or displaced Iraqis, and hundreds of billions of dollars forever lost to our treasury. Far, far more than Scooter's next freedom for the next 2.5 years has been sacrificed to Bush's selfish agenda. --Tom Schaller
