TPM Reader RF on George W. Bush finally showing up in Vietnam …
Reading the news accounts of Bush’s visit to Vietnam–and having studied the conflict and culture my whole life, and speaking the language, two things leaped to mind:
1) The incident is certainly a measure of the nerve or rather stupidity of George W. Bush. To invert historical reality while actually standing on Vietnamese soil is an irony, perhaps an obscenity, but it hardly shows even the minimal respect expected of the rudest guest. I’m sure Bush was oblivious to any reaaction by his hosts–and I’m equally sure their reaction wasn’t obvious, either.
It was intended to maintain the always-erroneous claim that Congress “lost” Vietnam by reducing funding, or criticizing the military, or losing it’s political will. None of that’s true.
2) I wonder just how much the Vietnamese were taking Bush for at the bargaining table. Vietnam is on the cusp of becoming the next Asian “Tiger” (how quickly is the question) and they have much to offer. Bush needs to add to his “Coalition” of Palau, Micronesia, England (all island nations, hmm). While they won’t join–I believe they offered 500 tons (lbs?) of rice in response for Bush’s appeal for more coalition allies & support (along with snarky public statement)– they are capable of extracting resources from Bush.
Like I said earlier, we’re deep down in the primitive brain stem here.
