It might have sounded like a new development, to have a former ambassador and congressman head up the CIA — and it certainly was big news in the media — but there’s evidence that Bush secretly had long been active in the CIA. Why was Bush selected? Speculation was that popularity-seeking President Ford’s motive was mainly to get Bush away from political contention in the 1976 race, which the President was facing.
What Bush did in his inconspicuous CIA office was a metaphor for his entire career. He acted busy. He held a job. But his accomplishments were limited to self-serving initiatives. Those who knew him then say that if he was deferential and obsequiously loyal in previous jobs, he was downright obedient in his new role as chief spy for the U.S. But none of this should come as any surprise. Here’s the public face George Herbert Walker Bush would undoubtedly like to see perpetuated: Courageous war hero, popular Yale Phi Beta Kappa graduate, successful businessman, devoted family man, old “China hand,” deft U.N. diplomat, successful anti-drug czar, charming scion from an old-line American family and if that’s not enough, the “Great Liberator” of Panama and Kuwait.
That’s not the real face of the president. It’s only a mask. Strip away that popular image and the American people have the face of a monumental hypocrite and consummate political opportunist. The face belongs to a man who never has to worry about his convictions because he does not have any. He has no principles. He has shown himself ready to make any deal at all with but one criterion — does it serve his own self advancement?
