ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on George Bush, though, because it was the Bush administration’s discursive invasion strategy of encirclement rather than penetration that led to the feminization of Bush. For Bush, the feminine object was an international space in which to project hegemonic authority. In the Bush administration discourse, a distinction was drawn between preserving Panamanian sovereignty and removing Noriega from power. If Bush embodied the United States during a refractory period that signaled the impending impotence of the United States (US), then the US invasion of Panama exemplifies the excessive miming of masculinity. Hysteria appears as the excessive miming of masculinity that “stands in” for a lack of phallic power. The Bush administration discourse on the invasion of Panama always found its point of reference in the US citizenry. For Noriega, feminization both preceded the US invasion of Panama and continued during and after the invasion.
