President Bush began his journey to the Beijing Olympics with a tour of Asia, and he began to learn that the games aren’t all about love of competition and sportsman ship.

Bush will be the first President to attend the Olympic games outside the U.S. and may finally understand that the contests have always been a healthy mixture of competition, nationalism and politics. He planned to visit Chinese human right activists and religious leaders only to learn that they have been arrested or expelled from the country by Chinese government officials.

Not wanting to insult the nation of China, Bush has now agreed to strict itinerary, which involves visiting a state-registered Church, put together by government officials.

Yet many politicians and activists have begun calling for Bush to make a public statement about China’s egregious human rights record–a modern “tear down this wall” speech–especially since Amnesty International recently reports that China as broken its promise to improve freedoms of speech and stop detentions without trial.

Don’t anticipate such an overt cry for reform. Many White House aides claim that Bush will be removed from politics during his visit in China and focus on the games. Yet, I still have to ask, can our president (the head of state and government) ever remove himself from from the political clout that surrounds him?

Bush needs to remember, he is the president, not an athlete.

The athletes can handle the games just fine.  He should take care of the politics.

by Mike Gibilisco

This woman obviously loved America.

Her T-shirt read, “I [heart] USA.” (I had no reason to doubt the truthfulness of her garment.)

She obviously loved menthol cigarettes also. She attempted to juggle the butt, a lighter and her child’s leash as she lit up. The smoke curled like ivy around her cap baring a bald eagle.

This was the Fourth of July where I work, at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.

This woman’s patriotism would have not stood out from the American flag shorts, the red, white and blue wigs and other American paraphernalia I see driving around the zoo, were it not for a Washington Post-ABC News Poll which concluded more than 80 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track.

So there was a good chance that this woman loved America, but disapproved our country’s current policy.

Even when cities and other local governments shelled out $10,000 for a 15-minute firework spectacular or, in some cases, $100,000 for a bigger bang, to celebrate everything American, why do citizens feel so lackluster about the country’s current political atmosphere?

The fireworks this year echoed the disconnect between our patriotism and the bitter aftertaste of the President Bush’s administration. It is much easier to get excited about a victorious revolution than a failed energy policy, a diminishing economy, and over 4,000 dead Americans in Iraq–no wonder Bush’s approval rating has dipped below 30 percent.

In the upcoming months, we will have the chance to decide the next direction of American policy, most importantly, in the presidential election. However, the actual push for a new course may be fading from the 2008 election.

Sen. John McCain’s administration may be a repeat of Bush’s with McCain’s unrelenting support of American involvement in Iraq and his recent backsliding on torture techniques used by the CIA. And Sen. Barack Obama–the prophet of change himself–had his fire extinguished by the complacency of a front runner, even flirting with the evangelical crowd by offering to build off Bush’s faith-based tax initiatives.

As the November approaches, brace yourself for a less issue-based and more bicker-some election. It will take little more bang before we can become really excited about any candidate of “change.”

by Mike Gibilisco

Nebraska will host a David versus Goliath battle for its open Senate seat this November.

Over the last month, Democrat Scott Kleeb began preparing for the election against political giant, Republican Mike Johanns.

Kleeb is an archetype of the new-wave, reactionary Democrats; he supports keeping Roe v. Wade, calls for a government run health care plan and labels climate change “the moral test of our lifetime,” on his campaign’s Web site.

Considering Kleeb’s positions, it’s hard to understand how the Nebraska Democratic Party expects to win in this notoriously red state, whose only congressional Democrat has a strong Republican voting record.

Lucky for them, that Kleeb, like David, is also a shepherd boy.

Well, not a shepherd boy, but he has worked as a Ranch hand and just recently worked at Morgan Ranch in Burwell, Nebraska.

Nebraskans may not know where Burwell is.

Nebraskans also may not know that Kleeb wrote his Yale doctoral dissertation on ranching in the American West.

We may not even know that Kleeb ran for the House of Representatives in 2006.

But if Nebraskans know anything, we know beef, and if Scott Kleeb raises it, he has chance to connect with voters.

Besides beef, Nebraskans know Kleeb’s competition, Johanns, a Republican Goliath in this state.

Johanns has served as the mayor of Lincoln and as the state’s governor. He even had the opportunity to experience beef’s many fine intricacies as the Secretary of Agriculture under the Bush administration.

If you’ve read First Samuel, you will know that Kleeb may need more than just a sling-shot to defeat Johanns.

Let’s assume that he hasn’t inherited Bush’s divine destiny. So Kleeb needs money, lot’s of money.

When the most recent campaign finance reports show that, as of April 23, Kleeb has $240,000 compared to Johanns’s $1.3 million, Kleeb has work to do.

He needs the cash to build name recognition in Omaha and to buy air time so that he can prove he is centrist enough for Nebraska.

With these tasks ahead of him, he may want to throw in a prayer between campaign stops.