Bush's Bubble of Unreality Suddenly Bursts

Steve Chapman, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune comments in the Baltimore Sun: "When President George W. Bush had to duck a pair of shoes thrown at him by an irate Iraqi journalist at a news conference in Baghdad, the depressing part was not just that his administration has managed to alienate many Iraqis. It was also that the president of the United States had to go to Iraq to find himself face-to-face with anyone who openly rejects his policies. Here in the land of the free, that is almost unheard of. When Mr. Bush ventures into contact with ordinary Americans outside the White House, his aides do their best to keep him from realizing that many of his constituents regard him as a disaster...maybe Barack Obama will take a different approach and accept the fact that occasionally seeing people express dissenting views is just part of the president's job. And not just on visits to Baghdad."