Le Watergate éthylique de GW

Le président GW Bush s’est-il remis à boire? Son attitude retrouverait assez classiquement celle d’un président engagé dans une crise personnelle répondant à la crise nationale qui le submerge. (Durant les jours du calvaire de Watergate, en 1973-74, où il était assiégé et cadenassé à la Maison-Blanche, Nixon avait pareillement sombré dans l’alcoolisme de diversion, jusqu’à une quasi-indisponibilité épisodique dans ses fonctions. La crise nucléaire du 25 octobre 1973 fut en bonne partie due à cette circonstance, Nixon étant indisponible pour répondre à un ultimatum des Soviétiques.)

Le National Inquirer du 21 septembre publie un article de Jennifer Luce et Don Gentile. L’article cite notamment un expert : « Dr. Justin Frank, a Washington D.C. psychiatrist and author of ‘Bush On The Couch: Inside The Mind Of The President’, told The National Enquirer: “I do think that Bush is drinking again. Alcoholics who are not in any program, like the President, have a hard time when stress gets to be great. I think it's a concern that Bush disappears during times of stress. He spends so much time on his ranch. It's very frightening.” »

Le journal donne de nombreuses précisions et cite des sources anonymes. Il s’agit évidemment d’une question personnelle dont les dimensions politiques sont évidentes. Une crise personnelle de GW Bush aurait aussi bien des effets politiques que psychologiques dans la crise nationale que connaissent les USA. Le seul fait de la publication de cet article est en soi une indication du caractère fluide et insaisissable de la situation politique aux USA. The National Inquirer écrit :

« Bush is under the worst pressure of his two terms in office and his popularity is near an all-time low. The handling of the Katrina crisis and troop losses in Iraq have fueled public discontent and pushed Bush back to drink. A Washington source said: “The sad fact is that he has been sneaking drinks for weeks now. Laura may have only just caught him — but the word is his drinking has been going on for a while in the capital. He's been in a pressure cooker for months. The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained.

» The result is he's taking drinks here and there, likely in private, to cope. “And now with the worst domestic crisis in his administration over Katrina, you pray his drinking doesn't go out of control.”

» Another source said: “I'm only surprised to hear that he hadn't taken a shot sooner. Before Katrina, he was at his wit's end. I've known him for years. He's been a good ol' Texas boy forever. George had a drinking problem for years that most professionals would say needed therapy. He doesn't believe in it [therapy], he never got it. He drank his way through his youth, through college and well into his thirties. Everyone's drinking around him.” »

Mis en ligne le 24 septembre 2005 à 07H35