Hell is other people

The problem with being the elected leader of a democracy, from George Bush's point of view, is that there are always going to be those awkward moments when someone expects you to have actual contact with . . . well, with "the people."

Fortunately, this is a responsibility that has never borne down too heavily on Bush's hollow shoulders. To the extent that he has a governing political philosophy, it is not one that is overburdened by concern with the life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness of the average person on the street.

Which is, perhaps, why Bush's recent visit to China went more smoothly than many feared (or hoped):

President Hu Jintao of China ordered prominent dissidents to be put under house arrest yesterday, the same day he sought to burnish his reformist credentials by allowing a memorial ceremony for Hu Yaobang, the liberal-leaning party chief whose death sparked the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989.

Police were put on notice to deal with any dissent during the visit of President Bush, who is scheduled to be in Beijing tomorrow. "I expect they will let us out after Bush has left," said Liu Xiaobo, a literary critic who won fame for joining the students in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and negotiating with the army for their safe passage.

Bundling dissidents out of sight for state occasions? Bush must have sensed in his Chinese counterpart a kindred spirit:

The American Civil Liberties Union is taking up the case of two of the three people ejected from a presidential appearance in Denver over a bumper sticker and has named a federal bureaucrat in Denver as the mystery man who ousted them.

The ACLU is filing suit today in federal court in Denver, alleging violation of the pair's civil rights.

The suit identifies the man who ejected them as Michael Casper, a building manager in the General Services Administration in Denver. Casper has worked as a volunteer at several White House events since 1996.

The Rocky Mountain News has asked Casper several times if he is the man who forcibly removed the three. He has denied it, made jokes about it and, for some time, avoided being seen and identified by the three. He has acknowledged that he worked the event as a White House volunteer.

ACLU attorney Chris Hansen said the suit is being filed because "the government should not be in the business of silencing Americans who are perceived to be critical of certain policy decisions."

President Bush came to Denver March 21 to speak about Social Security at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. Alex Young, 26, Leslie Weise, 39, and Karen Bauer, 38, say they were ejected from the event even though they had done nothing disruptive. Young and Weise are suing.

All three had tickets to the public event, which was sponsored by the White House and paid for by taxpayers.

The man who forced them to leave was wearing a radio earpiece and a lapel pin that functioned as a security badge. The three say he was identified to them as working for the Secret Service.

He was investigated for possible charges of impersonating a Secret Service agent, but the U.S. attorney in Denver declined to prosecute, saying the man never identified himself as a federal officer.

His identity is known to the Secret Service and the White House, but both have repeatedly refused to reveal it.

The three say they were told by the Secret Service later that the man admitted ejecting them because they arrived in a car with a bumper sticker that read, "No more blood for oil."

Of course, part of the objection by Team Bush to the presence of Young and Weise was not merely the risk of contamination to Bush's pristine mind by contact with anyone outside his circle of loyalists. That bumper sticker suggests they may have committed the more serious and fundamental offense of not putting corporate profits ahead of democratic principles. This rundown from last Sunday's Washington Post gets it about right:

When it comes to China, where his father served as ambassador in the 1970s, Bush is pulled by competing factions within his own political coalition. A powerful alliance of neoconservatives and Christian conservatives urges him to take on Chinese tyranny, particularly oppression of religion. Yet the president seems more influenced by his party's business wing, which sees great opportunity and wants to integrate China into the international community.

"Economics is the main thing now," said James R. Lilley, ambassador to Beijing under President George H.W. Bush. "Democracy for China? Don't hold your breath."

(Those who were watching Bush's China visit in hopes that there would be a moment of authentic confrontation, a moment of truth beyond the reach of his handlers and packagers, were left to make do with this. Kudos to Billmon for making the connection.)