Ever since the September 11 tragedy, President Bush has been acting more like the President of the world than of the United States of America. Rather than focusing on conditions within the United States, the Bush administration has been preoccupied with the affairs of other states and other peoples. The Bush administration’s new energy plan suggests that the President may finally be turning homeward. Bush’s claim that oil represents a “foreign tax on the American people” may be somewhat arrogant in nature. Nevertheless, this policy seems to bode something of a dénouement to the war on terror.

It is unlikely that the Bush administration will ever cease to use the rhetoric of terrorism. However, this recent diatribe against “foreign oil” signifies a newfound interest in domestic policy. Maybe the Bush administration has once and for all conceded defeat in the manhunt for Osama bin Laden and his supposedly innumerable, interlinked global terror cells. The new Bush energy plan certainly could be interpreted as U.S.-oriented. It surely could be argued that the proposed shift away from dependence on foreign oil could imply an attempt to undermine a wide variety of Arab governments. Nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that the Bush administration is seemingly accepting the fact that Arab oil is not the rightful property of the United States of America. Much of the discourse on the part of the Bush administration throughout the Iraq war suggested that the President strongly believed otherwise.

The Bush administration’s gravest flaw has been its many times not so tacit belief that tackling various issues abroad could solve or at least was more important than the socioeconomic woes within the United States. This new energy policy appears to represent the Bush administration finally taking responsibility for the state it was elected to govern. The Bush administration has been concerned with the well being of so many purportedly oppressed peoples that it has forgotten about the needs of everyday Americans. Everyday Americans may not be living in the presence of a ruthless dictator, they may be wealthier on average than many of the inhabitants of the global community, but the relative prosperity of the United States should not permit neglect on the part of its President. Many around the globe would argue that Americans do not deserve the supposed luxuries they enjoy. The President of the United States is not in the position to take the benefits of the American lifestyle for granted, however.

Bush has played the part of freedom fighter for too long. He has pursued the vendetta for September 11 sufficiently. Even though President Bush did not apprehend Osama bin Laden, whether justly or not, he has demonstrated that the United States will not take terrorist incidents lightly. Now that the Iraqi parliament is somewhat stable, Bush should take the opportunity to reacquaint himself with the demands of American society. His mind and policy have been miles away for an inordinate amount of time. Let’s hope that this new energy policy is a step in the right direction. If Bush is correct in arguing that America was attacked because of its love of freedom, the greatest vengeance he can exact at this point is to ensure that everything upon which this freedom depends remains intact. The precarious energy situation is undoubtedly a good place for him to start.