In recent weeks a rather disreputable pocket of George W. Bush’s past has been wrenched out of its hiding place by a chance comment from Michael Moore. At a Wesley Clark campaign event, Moore used the term “deserter” in referring to our Commander-in-Chief. A few days later, during a televised Democratic debate, Peter Jennings asked General Clark why he had not refuted this term on the spot. Clark defended Moore’s right to free speech, but the story quickly metamorphosed into a reminder that there are significant unanswered questions about Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Despite the White House’s frantic attempts to quickly eliminate the AWOL story before it became a full-blown campaign issue, damaging references to it continued to emerge in the media, and now, with so much blood in the water, the hungry sharks are circling.
The story revolves around the time period from May 1972 to May 1973 when Bush was supposed to have shown up for Guard duty in Alabama, but no military record can be found of him during much of this time nor any credible person who remembers him there. It is best summed up in this excerpt from the New Republic taken from Talking Points Memo:
Bush asked Guard officials in May of that year (1972) if he could fulfill his continuing duty obligations by serving with a mail squadron based in Montgomery, but they turned him down, noting the unit's lax drilling schedule. Bush left Texas anyway--with his Guard responsibilities unresolved--joining the campaign in Alabama that month. In August, he failed to take his annual flight physical, which meant losing his flight status. A month later, he requested and received permission to perform his fall Guard duty with the 187th Tactical Recon Group in Montgomery before returning to Houston's Ellington Air Force Base after the election. But he apparently never showed up: The Globe investigation found that Ellington had no record of Bush performing service in Alabama. In fact, the 187th's commander--Bush's commander--William Turnipseed told the paper, "Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not. I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered." His memory was corroborated by Bush's discharge papers, which showed neither any service in Alabama nor any training by Lieutenant Bush at all after May 1972.Assuming that the AWOL allegation is true, and there has been nothing yet that comes close to refuting it, what are we to make of it? What does it tell us about George W. Bush? Running away from one’s sworn duty, whether to avoid the drug test in a physical exam or to simply go off and do something more interesting, certainly suggests some significant character flaws. Bush here demonstrated an inability to complete something to which he had made a commitment, perhaps because that commitment had lost its original luster and excitement. He also showed a lack of the inner discipline necessary to delay gratification, preferring instead to do the pleasing thing in the moment, while minimizing or ignoring the consequences. Unfortunately, this tendency to pay scant attention to consequences has been reinforced throughout Bush’s life by the numerous bailouts afforded him by his family and its circle of wealthy and influential friends. Without this golden parachute, Bush would most likely have ended up in Vietnam in 1973 for his egregious dereliction of duty. It seems, instead, that there were no consequences forthcoming, contrary to all military procedure.Bush was supposed to return to Houston after Blount's losing race. But, by May 1973, his commanding officers in Texas noticed that they could not write his annual performance evaluation for the simple reason that Bush wasn't there. "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report"--May 1, 1972, to April 30, 1973--his evaluation reads. This was a serious charge: Delinquent guardsmen could be inducted into the Army ...
The AWOL events of 32 years ago are significant today because they present a pattern of behavior that has been endemic in Bush’s presidency: a tendency to focus on short-term gratification, with little concern for or understanding of long-term serious repercussions. In Afghanistan, Bush went in with guns blazing and great promises, but removed the bulk of US forces prematurely when the initial excitement was past, seeking instead ever-new fields to conquer. He left behind a mess that continues to fester: warlords empowered and fighting, opium abundant, Taliban resurfacing, and Karzai impotent.
In Iraq, the instant gratification came again with the initial military conquest, but the long-term consequences of potential destabilization, civil war, and increased terrorism were ignored. The ongoing fiasco there is well known, and all of the sorry details were widely predicted before Bush heedlessly marched us over a cliff and into a devastating sinkhole of exploding turbulence.
Economic policy is another area where Bush has been essentially AWOL. The deficit is ballooning beyond anyone’s imagination, and our leader blithely spends more money and cuts more taxes. Again, there is no sense of responsibility for what he is creating, no awareness of or concern for the potentially ruinous consequences of his policies. It is all about instant gratification: making the base happy and creating a windfall for corporate donors, in other words, political short-term gain at the expense of intelligent policy for the long-term good of the country.
The environment is yet another area where the delay of gratification is sorely needed if we are to fend off a future disaster. Instead, indulgence is actually encouraged in such areas as tax credits for SUV’s, while no attempt has been made to educate the public of the imminent and potentially catastrophic decline in world oil production. Moreover, in Bushworld, peer-reviewed studies on global warming are considered science fiction, while self-serving and bogus statistics are considered fact. Even worse, the regulation of industrial pollution has been drastically cut, signaling the administration’s focus on campaign contributions over sane environmental and health policy.
There are endless examples dating from the earliest days of this administration of the Bush proclivity to mine short-term political gain from all situations while ignoring or minimizing consequences. In addition, we have seen an inclination to manifest bold, self-aggrandizing fantasies - such as the Divinely Appointed Destroyer of Evil – that eventually fizzle into nothingness. Also pervasive is an enormous propensity to obscure and deceive, often creating an alternative reality spun out of the mist. In the astrological chart, these tendencies to self-deception, escapism, avoidance of painful consequences, deceit, and denial of harsh reality are some of the worst manifestations of the planet Neptune, as well as of its natural house, the twelfth. In the waters of Neptune, we are momentarily free from the exigencies of time and space and the demanding responsibilities of the earth plane. Instead, we tend to merge with some kind of transcendent reality: the glories of the spiritual life, the beauty and creation of art, the magical and eventually self-destructive world of substance abuse, or the illusory and self-aggrandizing world of our fantasies, which may be hardly decipherable as unreal. Neptune can bring a wonderful and inspiring experience, when channeled appropriately, for the artist or those who are deeply religious. But it heralds a catastrophe in planning and implementing public policy.
The debilitating influence of Neptune runs through this administration like weeds through a long neglected garden. In the Inaugural chart, effective from January 20, 2001 through January 19, 2005, the Sun is conjunct Neptune, and Neptune squares the Ascendant. This suggests that the heart (the Sun) of the administration – the president - tends to be confused, self-deceptive, deceitful, or in some way disconnected from reality. Moreover, due to the natal Ascendant/Neptune square, the entire administration sees the world through a lens of deceptions and distortions, while it in turn is seen by the world as dishonest and evasive. Currently, this Ascendant/Neptune aspect is particularly important since Neptune by transit will soon be moving to the exact square of Inaugural Ascendant (14Taurus50) from early March through June 2004, and again in January 2005. This transit suggests an administration beset with confusion, weakened internally by self-deception and changing positions, unfocused, and deceptive.
In George Bush’s natal chart, the 12th house Sun is square Neptune. This describes a desire to escape from the harsh and unpleasant aspects of reality, a propensity for self-deception and a slippery dishonesty. This escapism can manifest as substance abuse, religious self-abnegation to a greater vision, or self-delusion. The three are not mutually exclusive. Since his Inauguration, Bush has been under very strong Neptune transits that have intensified its qualities in his character. Neptune opposed his Ascendant, Mercury, and Pluto, consecutively, during 2001, 2002, and 2003. The 2004 transit of Neptune quincunx Bush’s natal Sun, already begun, has already been seen to be particularly debilitating, because it triggers the natal Sun/Neptune square.
The transit of Neptune quincunx Bush’s Sun and the US Sun runs from mid-January through February and July through December 2004. The current focus on Bush’s “credibility gap” and the increasing concern about the administration’s trustworthiness is directly connected to this transit. The big stories running now – the bogus budget numbers, the AWOL story, the false intelligence leading to war – all point to an administration that manipulates the facts, avoids facing painful consequences, and deceives the American public for political gain.
Neptune unfettered can be successful for a time at both self-deception and subterfuge. The reckoning comes during Saturn transits, when reality intrudes and demands to be acknowledged. The timing of Bush’s troubles is exactly analogous to the timing of Saturn’s impact on his chart, the Inaugural chart, and US chart. The longer the Saturn transit or series of transits collectively, the more the hard, cold facts seep in, and the more the damage to Bush’s image.
The tide turned in June 2003, when, for the first time, the Bush administration was hit with a significant and steady stream of Saturn energy that shifted the political environment to a more intensive scrutiny and a demand for accountability. During June and most of July 2003, Saturn adversely impacted the Inaugural chart, the US chart, Bush’s chart, and several charts of other top administration officials. Saturn transited quincunx the Inaugural Sun, square the US MC, conjunct Rumsfeld’s Venus, square Rumsfeld’s Moon, conjunct the US Venus, opposite Rove’s Sun, square Rove’s Saturn, square Bush’s Neptune, conjunct the US Jupiter, and semisquare Bush’s Venus. It was during this period that the glaring lack of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq became an explosive issue, with questions about the administration’s exaggerations and fabrications of intelligence becoming daily fodder. The seven weeks of continual coverage enabled the seeds of grave concern over administration deceit regarding the war to firmly take root, though the issue subsequently moved to the back burner for a few months.
In late September 2003, Saturn moved into a five-week conjunction with the US Sun, reviving doubts about administration credibility and adding a new twist. It was at this time that the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame came to center stage in the national consciousness due to a report in the Washington Post that implicated top White House aides. Once again the White House was under fire, this time for not acting decisively to discover the culprits and for essentially protecting them from discovery. The pattern of obscuring, dissembling, and avoiding responsible action was once again evident.
As Saturn’s energy weakened in November 2003, the focus on the administration’s dishonesty and deceptions waned again. By December, benevolent Jupiter moved to oppose the Inaugural Venus at just about the time Bush made his Thanksgiving trip to visit the troops. This was followed by the capture of Saddam a few weeks later as the aspect peaked. In addition, Bush had progressed Moon square Venus in his natal chart from December 20, 2003, through January 20, 2004. Due to these two beneficiary aspects and the absence of Saturn, December and January brought Bush a brief period of renewed popularity, which ended with the passing of the Moon/Venus aspect at the time of the State of the Union speech.
Currently, the Bush administration is under both a strong Neptune and a strong Saturn influence. Since late January 2004, Neptune has been quincunx the US Sun followed by its quincunx to Bush’s Sun in February, while Saturn has been stationary, semisquare Bush’s Venus since early February, continuing through March 23. As a result, the Bush administration has been coming across as evasive, weak, unfocused, and deceptive (Neptune), while intense public scrutiny and enormous criticism (Saturn) is being focused upon it. The big issue at present is the AWOL story, but the absurdly dishonest budget and the massive intelligence failure and growing investigation regarding WMD are not far behind. In addition, the investigations about the 9/11 intelligence failure and about the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame are gathering steam. In each case, we find promises of cooperation followed by backtracking, stonewalling, obfuscation, and mutating factoids. The dizzying spectacle is like watching a circus performer balancing a multitude of spinning plates in the air.
These difficulties continue for the administration through March 23, 2004, at which point a significant shift begins to emerge. Saturn goes into the background again, and Pluto again waxes toward the opposition to US Mars until the exact aspect on May 24. In addition, Jupiter will make a long station on Bush’s natal Mars/progressed Sun, also through late May. This combination is likely to result in an increasingly aggressive military focus from late March to late May 2004, perhaps in some form of “spring offensive” which could include some very fierce confrontations. The White House public relations team will no doubt gleefully promote Bush’s role as Commander-in-Chief and War President in the midst of this action. It is possible that there will be some seemingly significant successes from any military venture during this period, and Bush may see a resulting brief rise in the polls. In addition, we can expect the presidential campaign to get very nasty during the late March through May period.
A few specific dates during this more volatile and dramatic time should be noted. From March 12 through April 1, 2004, Uranus will oppose the Iraqi Ascendant, suggesting a very explosive and transformative time there, potentially agitating the already simmering civil war. It will be exceptionally perilous during the Mars/Uranus square from March 26 through March 28 when extremely inflamatory, violent, and uncontrollable situations could erupt.
Another significant period is likely to be April 23 through May 2, 2004, when the Pluto opposition to US Mars will be triggered by several planets. The potential for acts of violence will be greatly increased during this period, including both in the homeland and impacting our soldiers abroad. May 16 through 23 is another period to watch for increased turbulence in world affairs since the New Year chart will receive a powerful Mars transit. Because the Pluto opposition to US Mars will peak at that time, events are likely to impact American affairs in particular.
It is towards the end of May that events will begin to deteriorate once again for the Bush administration. Neptune will go retrograde and begin to wax again toward the square to the Inaugural Ascendant through early July. From there it moves immediately back to the quincunx to Bush’s Sun and the US Sun for the duration of the presidential term. This will re-ignite the credibility gap issue big time, with the White House spin machine going into high gear during the summer months but failing miserably due to the proliferation of adverse Saturn aspects. In addition, the Inaugural progressed Moon will move to semisquare natal Pluto in late May (5/15 to 6/15), triggering the natal square and bringing a kind of frenzied paranoia to the administration.
From June 2004 through January 2005, the administration will be under a series of difficult Saturn transits simultaneous to the intensified Neptune impact. Only August will be free of Saturn’s harsh reality check. What we have seen recently is a forecast of the unfolding drama to come: an intensified focus on the chronic deceit, dissembling, and disconnect from reality that has permeated every aspect of this administration with catastrophic policy consequences. When the spinning plates come crashing down in the summer and fall of 2004, the Bush Three-Ring Circus will not be booked for a second season.
