I know it's been a long time since I added an entry to this compilation, but I've been in Malaysia (please don't ask). The last time I'd looked, the GWB's poll numbers were tanking in the low 30's, which meant only the hard-core base (evangelicals, rednecks and some life-long Republicans) were still supporting his failed administration. But he's somehow managed to tack on 8-10 points, apparently from making jingoistic pronouncements of an American version of jihad, likening the war against the "Islamo-fascists" to World War II, and calling it the "defining conflict of the 21st Century." (Personally, I think that designation will go to the eventual conflict between the vast majority of peaceful citizens in the world and the tiny minority of militarists, religious leaders and politicians who shamelessly manipulate their peoples into hatreds of other groups, using them as pawns in their demented power games. But that's perhaps another posting.)
I refer deliberately above to the Bushies helming a failed administration because a correspondent of mine has objected to this attribution. This person, sadly, is one of those who studiously avoids serious research of the issues and, instead, tunes in occasionally to Fox News or conservative talk radio for spoon-fed opinions. On these-such programs, they are regaled by skilled propagandists who trumpet the establishment line, i.e., that of the government-corporate-military-industrial complex, and vehemently castigate all who question that line, however slightly.
As part and parcel of their devious manipulation of this unfortunate segment of the population (unfortunate because these people can and do vote) is the inculcation of a virulent distrust, through repeated denunciations, of all other sources of information -- the "liberal media" (all the non-Fox networks, CNN, PBS, newspapers and newsmagazines) anything from academia, and anything from the UN or the foreign press. Even the scientific establishment, because their members may make statements or write books about subjects like global warming, stem cell research or evolution, are targets of conservative denunciation, as if they were part of some evil conspiracy to undermine the Righteous Way of Truth as propagated by the Religious Right and Republican conservatives.
These silver-tongued TV and radio manipulators sprouted like poison weeds in this country after it was discovered by a man named Rush Limbaugh that there were a lot more yahoos than deep thinkers listening to AM radio, listeners whose hot buttons could be easily pushed. In an early interview, Limbaugh admitted that he was not really a conservative, "just an entertainer" creating an interesting show. The previously itinerant radio man's program became so successful that he now earns over 30 million per year and has spawned a sickening bevy of wannabes looking to emulate his style, format and salary.
But I should get to the original point, which is that it's not too early to refer to the Bush presidency as a failed administration. In January of 2001 there were 3 major problems facing the country (none of which were that the rich were paying too much in taxes). They were, 1) the out-of-control cost of healthcare -- and consequently Medicare/Medicaid and personal insurance -- with nearly 40 million people without coverage; 2) the increasingly aggressive actions of Islamic extremists; 3) the dependence on foreign oil, which was skewing our foreign policy, and enriching authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. By their actions and inactions, the Bush administration has caused all of these to become worsened.
Healthcare costs and insurance have been allowed to soar, and there are now over 46 million Americans without coverage, most of them full-time workers. Obvious to any observer but lately confirmed in a top-drawer National Intelligence Estimate, our worst-case-scenario-come-to-life occupation of Iraq has incited a large increase in Islamic terrorism. Since 2001, our dependence on foreign sources of petroleum has actually increased. That's three strikes right there, but instead of being out, the Bush administration was returned to office. So let's present a wider analysis of what they've wrought in their leadership capacities in service to the greatest democracy on earth, bearing in mind that, for the most part, they've had the benefit of a compliant Republican Congress.
A second tier of problems besetting us in the beginning of the Bush years can be postulated: This list would include the need to fix Social Security; the deteriorating national electrical grid; the burgeoning influx of illegal immigrants: the worsening health of Americans, mostly due to the unchecked proliferation of unhealthy food and beverage products; and global warming, which now, because of accelerating evidence, is definitely a top tier problem. On this last, there was plenty of data between 2001 and 2004, but at the behest of the petroleum industry and their other corporate puppetmasters (and forgetting not that Bush, Cheney and the majority of their cabinet came in from the fossil fuel industry) the evidence was deliberately obfuscated, distorted and buried. So, like the other things, vital time was lost, time that could have lessened the impacts to come of these serious negative trends.
In addition, there were several areas of opportunity as the new millenium began for a pro-active administration to have taken actions to ensure a better future for the U.S. One of these areas would have been the shifting away from fossil fuels toward various alternate forms of renewable energy. America could have taken the international lead and ran with it, creating a vast network of green technologies for ourselves and a world about to burst into higher energy usage. But this wasn't on the agenda of the fossil fuel corporations or their participating partners in the White House. And now it appears that China has taken the lead in this critical field.
Another area of opportunity was the bio-medical sciences, in particular stem-cell research, which shows promise for disease eradication and limb replacement, truly multi-billion dollar industries of the near future. But due to their being beholden to the wingnut evangelicals and their cockeyed anti-science stances, the Bushies have thrown cold water on this vital research, and now Asian and European countries, mostly through government funding, have taken the pinnacle away from the once preeminent United States.
And what of the problems the administration created on its own misguided initiative? It inherited a healthy surplus and quickly turned it into record deficits, mostly by its foolish tax cuts (which resembled nothing more than payoffs to affluent Americans for their support) and massive corporate giveways, in the form of "incentives," tax breaks and earmarked loopholes for Republican contributors, as well as programs like the prescription drug bill. Or its sponsoring of a bankruptcy bill on behalf of their patrons in the banking industry, one which cruelly penalizes veterans, those who have had a critically ill family member, and victims of natural disasters. Or the way the Bush people, led by the ethically challenged Karl Rove, have created an extreme polarization in this country, along political and religious lines, unprecedented in modern times. Or the delimiting of citizens’ civil liberties, once an American hallmark, through an over-reaching Patriot Act, warrantless eavesdropping and telephone record shenanigans. Or a 6-year period where median family income (excluding the richest 5%, whose incomes ballooned) dropped by over $3000, during a time when expenses for medical care, insurance, home heating, gasoline and higher education all skyrocketed.
And what about job creation, which was the lowest since the 1940s, and would have been the lowest ever if it weren't for the huge number of low-paying, insuranceless jobs (so-called "Wal-Mart jobs") which people with formerly higher-paying jobs were forced to take because their old jobs had been shipped overseas. This "outsourcing" was often with the complicity, and tax incentives, of the Bush administration, which has shown nothing but contempt for the working class, as further demonstrated by their anti-union policies and the blockage of any rise in the minimum wage during their entire tenure.
Other examples of ineptitude and corruption the Bushies have subjected the country to would include screwing up FEMA, which then screwed up the Katrina relief effort. And overseeing a Republican Congress that is at least twice as corrupted as any previous legislative branch in our history, where the "For Sale" sign was writ in neon.
No list would be complete without mentioning the things that GW and his cohorts fervently wanted to do, actions that would have had serious negative ramifications, but were wisely blocked by people with some sense of reality. The highlights from that category would be spending several months in 2005 on his "top priority," selling a Social Security "fix" which wasn't a solution at all, would have actually increased the Social Security shortfall, and was blatantly an attempt to shift retirement monies to what would have been a pre-approved (by them) list of Wall Street companies; trying to put his eminently unqualified personal lawyer on the Supreme Court; attempting to give the United Arab Emirates the eastern coast ports deal -- a country whose royal family, just before 9/11, hosted Osama bin Laden as an honored guest; and, just recently, in the military Commissions Act, doing his darndest to scuttle the strictures on torture found in the Geneva Conventions, of which we are a signatory.
On this last issue, the president somewhat succeeded by the use of a "signing statement" in which he asserts his "right" to reinterpret the Geneva Convention restrictions, or anything else in the detainees bill. (He’s audaciously used these signing statements over 700 times, effectively creating the executive branch as an ersatz legislative branch, coopting and circumventing the Congress and the Constitution.)
But he did succeed in getting the suspension of the right of habeus corpus into the passed bill, negating a previously bedrock part of our judicial system, something duly inscribed in the laws of all civilized countries (indeed, it is used as an indicator of such) since it was part of the 13th Century Magna Carta. All he needs is the vote of two members of a tribunal -- handpicked by the executive branch -- to literally "lock someone up and throw away the key." A citizen thus detained is not given the right to a lawyer, or to hear the charges against him. Indeed, there need be no charges. (Some Americans might have missed this bit of reality while watching reality TV.) What it amounts to, simply and horribly, is that this president, and future presidents unless it's rescinded, now has the power of a police state in his hands.
Another vital area of compounded failure, our relations with other nations, is harder to quantify, but is fraught with profound future implications -- none of them good. Our arrogant unilateralism, acting on the neocon's vision of a world totally dominated by the U.S., created a perceived necessity in the nations of China and Russia, which signed a mutuality pact with the stated intention of counter-balancing our unipolar designs. Bush's calling of North Korea, Iran and Iraq the Axis of Evil, then attacking Iraq, helped push the loose-screw leaders of North Korea and Iran over the brink into hyper-defensiveness, the ramifications of which still lay on a (mushroom?) cloudy horizon.
The last of these blunders I'll mention involves our relations with Pakistan, a nation with a few dozen nuclear weapons and a population which heavily supports the Taliban and al-Qaeda. President Musharaff has done his best, considering his political environment, to cooperate with our War on Terror (well, the mighty USA did threaten to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if they didn't comply) but then we turn around and sign a big nuclear deal with their avowed enemy, India, causing him a huge loss of face. To survive in power, he's had to allow the Taliban and al-Qaeda safe haven inside his country, but it's only a matter of time before he is overthrown by an Islamic revolution. If that indeed occurs, Iran, al-Qaeda and the Taliban will have nukes aplenty, thanks in large part to the Bush administration's undiplomatic handling of a crucially important ally.
I'd also add to this indictment the administration's unconscionable record of inaction on the genocide in Darfur, their delaying and outright reneging on promises made to fund the battle against AIDS in Africa, and their backpedaling on much-needed debt relief for Third World nations.
A few comments need to be made on what was touted in 2000 as Bush's management style; he was said to be preparing a "CEO-style" presidency. The most important quality of a successful CEO is his ability to hire the right people for various jobs, assess their productivity and replace them if they fall short of spelled-out indicators. Well, what we have in GWB is someone who has taken cronyism to new depths. He has not only failed to criticize/fire/replace those who have done a poor job but praises them and, in the case of Condi Rice, gives out a promotion.To cite the biggest examples: Rumsfeld for his arrogant boneheadedness conducting Iraq; Rice for dismissing the terrorist threat as not that important before 9/11; Cheney for being wrong or outright lying most every time he opens his mouth in front of a microphone; and Michael Chertoff of Homeland Security, who was just as blameworthy as "Heck-of-a-Job-Brownie" for the Katrina fiasco, and who recently issued a funding directive delisting blue state New York from having any national monuments worth protecting from the terrorists (!) whereas red states were lavished with monies for things like petting zoos.The two biggest foreign policy mishandlers who did retire, George "Slam Dunk" Tenet of the CIA and Paul Bremer, the head of the catastrophic Iraq occupation during the worst of the decision-making, were recipients of Oval Office ceremonies where big medals were put around their necks by our CEO president.
On a somewhat personal note (but not to forget that GW was elected in large part because of his personality) there's little doubt that he came to the most powerful office in the world having read almost nothing of serious non-fiction, a man with little interest in the arts, literature, science or even travel, a man curiously devoid of curiosity. This lack of intellectuality could have been somewhat compensated for by surrounding himself with erudite associates and holding them to high standards, but the above personnel failures emphatically show that not to be the case.
So with all of these operational deficits, this president could still have managed to do the one thing that good presidents do, and that is listen to the American people, from the common man to the academics to journalists, and then formulate policies and a sense of direction for the country. But George W. Bush has done no such thing. In fact, he is quoted in Bob Woodward's new book, State of Denial, as saying he won't withdraw from Iraq even if everyone opposes him except his wife and dog. I'm not sure what job such stubbornness would pay off in, but GW needs to be reminded that we live in a democracy, with a legislative branch, and that that is the attitude of a king or an absolute dictator, neither of which we want in this country. (Perhaps the November elections will send him that much-needed message.)
Finally, let's remember the supposed context and promised content of this presidency. He won over voters with his promise to be a "compassionate conservative," with his promise to be pro-environment, with his promise to be "a uniter not a divider," and with his promise not to be a president who conducts "foreign adventures" and "nation-building " overseas. Those things, and the expectation that he would be a similar president to his father (who at least was a competent consensus-builder), were all turned utterly and completely on their head.
Looking back over this assessment I realize that it appears one-sided, that it does not include the Bush successes. But that's because what appeared to be the administration's two big successes -- No Child Left Behind and Afghanistan -- continue to crumble down from that earlier positive description due to poor planning, underfunding and lack of follow through.
Just the foregoing readily proves the assertion that this is a failed administration, but as a capstone (no, say that the above recitation digs a 6-foot hole and the following represents the dirt thrown on the casket) we have the 40-months-and-counting Iraq war, which constitutes an even bigger foreign policy debacle than Vietnam, and with many of the same earmarks. Examples: Both governments misled the people, continuously and over years, about how victory was just around the corner; America gave itself a black eye and a shot foot in terms of international respect and approval; and the only real beneficiaries have been the military-industrial complex and the politicians they enriched.
There can be no serious counter-argument -- although the vociferous apologists at Fox and on conservative talk radio will undoubtedly try -- that this woeful administration has done more damage to our country than any in history, and that the kindest thing that any objective analyst of the future will say about them is that they were "a failed administration."
Addendum: Adding this on 11-11-06; Bush can now add to his legacy of boneheaded failure that he broke the so-called "permanent majority" of the Republican party.
