Admittedly, it is hard to keep things in
perspective when you're President, but Americans have a right to expect
a little more respect from their elected leaders. George W. Bush surely
knew that closing Virginia's carpool lanes out of Washington, D.C. on Route
395 during rush hour would cause misery for thousands of area commuters.
Nevertheless, he asked Virginia authorities to clear the high occupancy
vehicle lanes on August 24th so he and his entourage could make
good time to Richmond, where he had an important engagement. Well, not exactly
important to the nation, or the War on Terror, or the economy, or even all
the Virginia commuters who would be in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours,
missing their own engagements… just important to the Republican Party, and
especially beleaguered Senator George "Macaca" Allen, who needed W for a
campaign fundraiser.
To its credit, Virginia's Department of Transportation turned down the
request and Bush had to take a helicopter. But this incident is a disturbing
example of the arrogance of power and the unethical calculations it can
produce. Of course Bush's campaign appearance couldn't justify
disrupting the schedule of thousands of citizens, not to mention wasting
their cars' high-priced gasoline. But the President of the United States
either couldn't see that, or just didn't care.
Either way, it's the tell-tale mark of an Ethics Dunce.
President George W. Bush