Despite an ongoing string of failures in Iraq, a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, several percolating scandals, and a slew of highly discrediting books, the Bush administration has managed lately, against all expectation, to improve its poll numbers and edge past Senator Kerry's slim lead of last month. While Democrats are panicking, pundits are scrambling to explain away the unlikely bump. In a world of instant news, pervasive attention deficit, and vanishing short-term memory, every shift in the ubiquitous presidential election polls creates a mini-tsunami.
TV journalists wonder aloud if it is the intensified war effort and the consequent tendency to rally 'round the Chief that has contributed to Bush's unexpected fortune. Or perhaps, somehow, Kerry is deficient and needs to take more risks or maybe fewer risks, be more critical or maybe more positive, attack more, or whatever. Bush's multimillion-dollar ad blitz also gets stirred into this pot of explanations. Possibly most telling are the statistics about those who continue to believe a connection between al Qaida and Saddam and who think that we have already found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. Not surprisingly, these souls, deluded by Bush's propaganda machine, are the ones most likely to support the president and his war policies. That their numbers continue to be so large is a testament to the power of the Pinocchio bully pulpit, as well as cognitive dissonance on a massive scale.
Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that describes the discomfort that comes when new information contradicts what is already known or believed. If a person is committed to the prior knowledge, he or she will resist assimilating the new information. Thus, if you are committed to believing that Bush is a great leader and divinely inspired, you will resist the facts presented that show he has deceived you or failed in any way. If you believe that the US could not go to war except for the most honorable of reasons, you will resist accepting that there were no WMD's or that Saddam had nothing to do with al Qaida or 9/11. The harsh, but true, information is too threatening to the core beliefs that the president is honorable and that the country will go to war only for the noblest of reasons. Perhaps it would take failure on a massive scale to shake some of these people out of their intellectual insulation. It is hard to say. But what is clear is that Bush is currently enjoying a brief hiatus before a couple of real tsunamis hit him between the eyes.
As I previously predicted in a recent article and on my Timeline, the current Jupiter station is generally very beneficial to Bush and is helping to inflate his polls and bring some optimistic economic numbers. It will also likely lead him to some reckless and over-forceful military activity that may seem initially successful for the duration of the transit. Since late March, Jupiter has been conjunct Bush’s progressed Sun/natal Mars, inflating an already audacious and aggressive combination. Jupiter’s influence will remain strong, and hence protective, through May 21, 2004.
At present, the planet Mercury, the coordinator, communicator and transporter, is still retrograde but moving towards its stationary position. The seige at Fallujah and the standoff in Najaf are manifestations of this planet’s near immobility. Military action is postponed again and again, then we hear of brief and intense battles or explosions followed by more waiting. This feeling of stuckness will start to shift after May 1, when Mercury turns direct, and increasingly after May 6 when Jupiter also turns direct. But in the meantime, there will continue to be short, sharp, and deadly encounters. The Mercury station is exactly semisquare Uranus for several days (4/25 through 5/1) suggesting sudden, powerful, and upsetting incidents, as well as increasing tension.
In addition to the impact of the Mercury station, the Jupiter station is also quite significant right now. Besides its conjunction to Bush’s Mars/progressed Sun combination, casting him as the great War Chieftain during April and most of May, it is exactly square to the US Uranus through May 8. This gives a general feeling of the US taking precipitous action and being less likely to consider world opinion. With Pluto moving closer to its opposition to US Mars, this sets up early May as a time when significant and brutal battles are likely to unfold. In fact, the Pluto transit opposite US Mars suggests fierce encounters continuing through most of May. Jupiter’s position on Bush’s Mars suggests some success and some very bold action through May 21.
Neptune, the planet of delusion, deceit, and self-deception, continues to permeate every aspect of the Bush administration throughout 2004. Currently, the Neptune station is square the Inaugural Ascendant, bringing us a daily menu of lies and distortions of extraordinary magnitude, with the cognitive dissonance kicking in to keep the right-wing partisans from questioning the veracity of their born-again leader. He is one of them, after all.
But the Bush cabal’s pervasive dishonesty and disconnect from reality may soon be significantly challenged. The first tsunami will come crashing onto Pinocchio Bush’s shore in June 2004. As it descends upon the members of the administration, it will be impossible for them to hide from the very apparent policy failures that will be littering the landscape. It seems quite likely that the deteriorating situation in Iraq will be one of the key issues plaguing the White House, with little support from allies forthcoming. It may well be that the UN refuses Bush’s offer of minimal power in exchange for a bailout. In addition, from June 8 through June 10, the G8 Summit will meet, likely refusing Bush the support he will so desperately need and humiliating him in front of the world. Some of the many percolating scandals may also coalesce around this time. The Plame affair, the Cheney energy commission, the report of the 9/11 Commission are but a few of the many potential sources of great discomfort for the administration.
The significant planetary configurations in June are a string of Saturn transits – conjunct Bush’s Sun, the US Sun, square US Saturn, and conjunct the Inaugural South Node – that cover the entire month. These are accompanied by Neptune moving to the exact square to Inaugural Ascendant and Pluto conjunct Bush’s South Node. Taken together, this combination implies extraordinary burdens and difficulties (Saturn) resulting from reckless, poorly thought-out policies (Pluto/South Node), with no wiggle room for any spin (Neptune derailed by Saturn).
Like a bug caught in a spider’s web, the administration will continue to flail about in July and early August, as Saturn continues to nail the King of Fantasyland to the cross of reality while Neptune continues to focus on his inconsistencies, deluded pipedreams, and deceit. Saturn will square Bush’s Moon, Chiron, Jupiter, and Washington, DC location chart Midheaven (19Aries48). Neptune will quincunx his Sun and the US Sun. Then the second tsunami will hit, in September 2004, with virtually no time for Bush to recover from the first. Unfortunately, the Saturn transit that will square Bush’s Midheaven and cross the US Mercury beginning in September and continuing through May 2005, is likely to adversely impact the US economy as well as strike Bush’s presidency a second mortal blow. Mercury, the planet of trade and manufacturing, is in the 8th house of finance, investment, and currency in the US chart. It also rules the 7th house of relationships with allies and enemies. At least some of these areas are likely to contract sharply or be burdened in some way over the nine-month course of this transit. In September, the difficulties will be directly tied to Bush since Saturn will square his Midheaven – the symbol of career and reputation – and conjunct the Inaugural chart IC at the same time.
Thus, the Boy Emperor is in for a wild ride in the coming months. There is no question that he has created a disastrous mess in Iraq with no simple or painless solution forthcoming. He has bankrupted the US Treasury while enriching his friends in the military and energy industries. He has rolled back decades of progressive environmental policies and has inspired fierce hatred for the US throughout the Arab world, which clearly is not beneficial to our much-discussed national security. The only question that remains is whether enough Americans will be roused from their propagandized stupor to vote this radical right-wing administration out of office in November. How much failure will it take before the denial inherent in cognitive dissonance shatters and America realizes the depth of ineptitude and malfeasance that are currently rampant in the Oval Office? We will soon find out as compelling events in June and September move us into elections in November.
