January 1, 2009
By Michael Goodson
Post-Tribune columnist
For the past several months, we have listened to right-wing pundits trying to rewrite the legacy of President Bush. They moan and groan and say he wasn't so bad, bending the truth like a Texas pretzel. Since November, the president has gone through his talking points, placing his actions into a more favorable light and trying to build a proud legacy of his accomplishments. He has brought in Karen Hughes and Karl Rove to help him.
But we citizens have good reason to reflect differently on his eight years, and it would be wise of us to do just that. Right now the economic meltdown, with bailouts for big corporations at the expense of taxpayers, calls for us to look back. We've forgotten that Congress was planning to use the surplus to melt the deficit after President Clinton. We watched the surplus turn into a sea of red ink, and not because of the war in Iraq. That debt has been pushed off to future generations.
President Bush's only regret, however, was the "bad intelligence" about Iraq's WMDs. But it was the president who swallowed the nonsense of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and used Sept. 11, 2001, to frighten America into attacking Iraq. We've learned that his neocons were itching to do that the minute they took office.
In 19 days, President Bush will relinquish power to Barack Obama. Here is a list of 10 things to remember about President Bush that should be etched into stone somewhere so our descendants will see the truth about his administration.
He will be remembered for:
-- Ignoring the warnings of counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke about Osama Bin Laden's desire to attack the United States in August 2001.
-- Suspending the rights of American citizens by declaring them enemy combatants and suspending the right of habeas corpus under the Patriot Act.
-- Gutting FEMA, then appointing a political hack to mismanage, after Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst federal government responses.
-- Reinterpreting the Clean Air Act, allowing big business to pollute the air more than ever.
-- Sanctioning torture at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib and, thus, destroying America's reputation around the world.
-- Approving no-bid contracts to Halliburton, which cannot account for more than $1 billion wasted in Iraq.
-- Ending Warren G. Harding's claim to the title of worst president in U.S. history.
-- Declaring "Mission Accomplished" in 2003, before more than 4,100 Americans were killed and more than 30,000 wounded fighting for "Iraqi freedom."
-- Giving tax cuts to the richest Americans, then sinking our country further into debt to the tune of over $10 trillion, while overseeing our current economic meltdown.
-- Declaring a pre-emptive war in Iraq, an action never taken before in the history of our country, based on faulty, false and misleading information.
He will be gone. Back to Texas, and no longer ruling over the United States. Historians into the next century will decide his place in history. Fortunately, there is plenty of evidence on record to keep him near the bottom despite the writings and recordings of conservatives who see him differently.
What we'll need in the future is someone of the caliber of Doris Kearns Goodwin to sort it all out. Right now, about all we can say is, thank goodness it's over. Maybe we can all look forward to a happy new year.
Michael Goodson lives in Highland, Indiana.
14 comments:
GREAT Article. I agree that those 10 reasons have set Bush up as our WORST PRESIDENT.
Why choose Doris Kearns Goowin as the one to chronicle Dumbya's outrages? She is a plagiarist. Has everyone forgotten?
dur chimpfurher is just the public face for a larger criminal cabal that understands you don't stand in front of cameras and microphones when you steal.
Sure, chimpy is an intellectual zero with narcistic tendencies - he is an AWOL abusive alcoholic/cocaine addict.
Folks like him are a dime dozen - chimpy is not really our problem. The military-industrial complex and mainstream media that fraudulently hoisted him into the White House are,
Great post. But this statement is way off: "We've learned that his neocons were itching to do that the minute they took office."
The neocons had been drooling over the prospect of attacking Iraq for YEARS, and that is a well known fact.
It was all about about oil and lucrative "defense" industry contracts.
We have just lived through an enemy "presidency" and administration and yet they have no compunction whatever in inflicting further damage to the nation as they make their scurrilous exit. This "within enemy" is the only way America could have been brought to its knees in the time it has taken this bunch of criminals to destroy us.
Thank God the corrupt, sociopathic cretins of the Bush Regime are about to be ridden out of town on a rail. But we probably don't know the full extent of their damage yet; we also don't know if Democrats, in their endless desire to be liked by the Republicans, will do everything necessary to get this country back on the right track.
I believe you also forgot to mention the missing $9B in Iraq...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145848,00.html
(I only post it from Faux Spews to show that even the wingers "appear" to be concerned... but only to make it appear they care...)
over? it won't be over til bush is in prison
What makes Bush easily the worst is that so much more is at stake in modern times. With a bigger government the screwups have mor3 impact.
Also with Bush it imposssible to keep the list of horros at just ten. For starters I would add:
--Outing a CIA agent charged with tracking nuclear materials in the mMiddle East (that's treason).
--Illegally wiretaping American citizens a la KGB. We still don't know the extent of this crime.
--Suppressing an investigation of what happened on 9/11. Bush and Cheney tried thier best to kill any investigation and when one was finally forced on them they controlled it to the extent that it is now seen as a sham. We will likely never know the full truth of what happened on the day. But we do know that Bush is no longer intersted in catching Bin Laden. Why?
Actually, the Bush wars on the global poor and a sustainable population are worse. There are many aspects: obstruction of lowering populations through birth control, low level of support for health initiatives, diversion of property rights (such as water, genetic stock) to multinational corportations, etc, etc.
unfortunately the man was president for eight years and not four. If that was the case this man would at least have walked away with some integrity and moral fiber. Instead he was the best male cheerleader in the country.
I'm assuming that these 10 points are only the start of a much longer list. His idea of TORT reform comes to mind, limiting our rights in court and giving BIG buisness' a free hand.
It should be Congress giving him a place in history by investigating his abuse of power and then putting him where he and his cornies belong --- behind bars.
good list, but real list would be pages on. Remember, Bush and boys still trying to change score of laws before he is out
I think that, in the end, his and his pals' all- out war against the air that we breathe and the water that we drink and the land that we use to feed ourselves will define this presidency. 26 years of Reagonomics have put the human race on the brink of extinction, and it will take generations to fix it, if indeed we can do so. That is what my great- grandchildren will remember of this weak, cowardly babykiller. That is what "George Bush" will mean to future generations.
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