4 Reasons to Be Glad Bush Is Still President
I know, I know: what is a liberal/progressive doing saying this? Well the LA Weekly breaks it down...
Iraq. The deteriorating situation in Iraq is the inevitable outcome of a poorly conceived, incompetently executed and predictably doomed flight of foreign policy fancy...I'm willing to go along with that... schadenfreude. Love it. I agree. But before we start enjoying the next few years too much:
[snip]
Bushonomics. Another bed that Bush made. This president has spent more than any other in history while slashing taxes for all his clubhouse buddies — and their buddies and their buddies’ buddies. Between massive tax cuts, two costly wars, hurricane and 9/11 relief, the usual mess of pork and a huge new entitlement program for pharmaceutical companies called the prescription drug plan, Bush triumphantly undid one of the biggest legislative successes of conservatism: Clinton’s balanced budget...
[snip]
Scandals. Another silver lining in the dark clouds over Washington is that it might be a swiftly breaking storm. It’s taken less than five years for the Republican Idea to reveal itself as a grotesque falsehood. Now we’ve got great seats as a whole host of first-term crimes hatch into second-term scandals. The Plame Game, Jack Abramoff’s web of Republican intrigue, Bill Frist’s financial indiscretions, domestic spying, the cronyism exposed by Brownie’s heck of a job during Katrina — these were ineptitudes and overreaches of Nixonian dimension that, for the sake of the country, need vigorous public exposure...
[snip]
Schadenfreude. It might be bad form to gloat, but watching Bush fail is at least civic-minded gloating. The parade of poor policies that was Bush’s first term was the result of a broken legislative process that wrote poor laws to please narrow constituencies. It’s an approach to government that must be discredited, so watching the Bush presidency fall apart is more than just satisfying; it’s important.
After five years, the point is made. Everyone convincible is convinced. Those content to deem the president a smirking chimp, a dry drunk, a bumbling moron or — more politely — the worst or most dangerous president in history have had their moment. Duly noted. But Bush is still president, and about half the country supports him. It’s not enough to point fingers. Democrats and progressives must make a counteroffer to the American people. Talking politics for one week without ever mentioning the word Bush would be a good start. Can you do it?And there's one more thought about Liberals/Progressives 'counting our chickens before they hatch':
“I earned capital in the campaign,” boasted George W. Bush, after the 2004 election. “Political capital. And now I intend to spend it.” Just so. The year began with the president cockily planning to cram through a big anti–New Deal agenda. But as conservative thinker Peter Viereck once observed, “Reality is that which, when you don’t believe in it, doesn’t go away.” And in 2005, Bush faced a lot of reality. The mess in Iraq, public rejection of his Social Security plan, “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job,” the indictments of Libby and DeLay and Abramoff — all this (and much, much more) turned Dubya’s political capital into Enron stock. The guy who ended 2004 as Time’s “Person of the Year” had, by this December, morphed into the chump on Newsweek’s “Bush in the Bubble” cover. But before you get too giddy pondering Dubya’s inexorable ruin — unpopularity, impeachment, eternal disgrace! — remember that his second term is less than 12 months old and our media can’t hump the story of his failing presidency for another three years. So steel yourselves, comrades: Once Bush’s approval ratings go up a few more points to 50 percent, we’ll be bombarded with headlines calling him “The Comeback Kid” and declaring that, once again, Prince Hal’s been misunderestimated.Yep, leave it to the 'liberal' media to save Bush.
posted by Sumisu @ 10:13 PM
|
