Three years ago I joked that George W. Bush is a Taoist sage. Well, events of the past week or so suggest that he is a Taoist president. In the face of the greatest economic crisis since at least World War II (world wars are, after all, also gigantic economic problems), his “leadership” has been characterized by absence and inaction. He’s just not relevant, even when he comes out with the key policymakers and utters some forgettable words. He is not a lame duck but a dead duck, whose decaying corpse has been lying out on a highway for months and months, repeatedly run over and pounded into the pavement by countless heavy duty trucks. Yes, it’s ugly.
But maybe it’s also Taoist. Passage 20 of the Tao Te Ching comes to mind (indeed, Bush long ago gave up learning…):
How much difference is there between yes and no?
And is there a difference between lovely and ugly?
If we can’t stop fearing those things people fear,
It’s pure confusion, never-ending confusion.
People all radiate such joy, happily offering a sacrificial ox
or climbing a tower in spring.
But I go nowhere and reveal nothing,
like a newborn child who has yet to smile,
aimless and worn out
as if the way home were lost.
People all have enough and more.
But I’m abandoned and destitute, an absolute simpleton,
this mind of mine so utterly muddled and blank.
Others are bright and clear:
I’m dark and murky.
Others are confident and effective:
I’m pensive and withdrawn,
uneasy as boundless seas or perennial mountain winds.
People all have a purpose in life,
but I’m inept, thoroughly useless and backward.
I’ll never be like other people:
I keep to the nurturing mother.
I know a lot of Taoist friends out there will be uncomfortable with George W. Bush as a symbol of their philosophy. It bothers me, too. But, hey, there’s much in that passage that describes W.
The Useless Tree 
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