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TechnoratiGeorge W. Bush's Legacy of Failure
The president's defenders are puffing his record in a positive light - but reality keeps getting in the way
With only days left until his term expires, it appears that the Bush legacy project, an attempt by the usual corps of serial sycophants to rehabilitate the lame-duck generalissimo's image, is falling upon the deaf ears and self-gouged eyes of an American public sickened by the last eight years.
Yes, the Bush cabal just couldn't clear out of town without trying to complete one last propaganda project for the Gipper, or the Decider, if you will. Karl Rove, the genius who predicted a permanent Republican majority right before destroying a temporary one, and Karen Hughes, who likes to create mutual understanding in the Middle East by explaining that God appears in the US constitution, have been unleashing a wave of their finest shock and awe talking points. To listen to them is to hear how black is white, up is down and Bush has been more Churchill than Ceausescu.
Condi Rice, the very Siren Song of Security who thought a 2001 presidential daily briefing entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" meant the al-Qaida leader was thinking of investing in beachfront property in the greater Fort Lauderdale metro area, has also added her prescient voice to the chorus.
Our fearless chief diplomat's latest missive, reminding us that "the war on terror has failed to eliminate al-Qaida and its leader Osama bin Laden, but the US-led coalition and Iraq are close to defeating the group's Iraq branch", would be pretty cool if it weren't for the tiny hiccup that there was no "Iraq branch" of al-Qaida until she and her superiors chose to idiotically invade that country, and then do everything just short of providing al-Qaida in Iraq with an infusion of venture capital.
But the biggest problem for defenders of Bush's vast array of "accomplishments" is not even the cast of nincompoops trying to portray him as the "misunderestimated" heir to President Harry Truman. Their biggest obstacle appears to be reality itself. The American people have a way of getting it right, if not always immediately, and Bush's handlers haven't quite been able to force us all into the Matrix. Yet.
Right on time, CNN has come out with a poll that proves we know more than Mr Permanent Majority after all.
When asked whether Bush was "tough enough for the job", 49% of Americans responded yes, and 51% said no (even though he cleared brush in a very forceful manner! And wore a really tight flight suit! And said "Bring 'em on!"). That, by the way, is the best he performed on any question.
Is the president a person you admire? Seventeen percent yes, 72% no, but perhaps Bush legacy project peddlers can win over that 1% still thinking about it. Does Bush inspire confidence? Twenty percent said yes, and 80% said no. Did he manage the government effectively? Only 25% think he did, while 75% said not so much. Finally, did Bush bring the kind of change the country needed? A whopping 13% answered in the affirmative.
This is the way the rest of the poll goes. Whether it is about "getting things done" or "uniting the country" - two of Bush's campaign pledges - he is lucky to approach a 33% positive score. Saying these numbers ain't pretty is in the same range of euphemistic happy-talk as claiming the economy has hit a rough patch or the Cubs haven't won a World Series recently.
So when their two-page document of talking points comes your way reminding you that "Bush kept us safe after 9/11" (except for the anthrax attack, the shoe-bomber plot foiled by alert airline passengers and the more than 4,000 American kids unnecessarily killed in Iraq) and "Bush lifted the economy with tax cuts after 2001" (try Googling in succession: "sub-prime mortgages", "Bernie Madoff" and "Enron" for Bushenomics in action), much like CNN poll respondents, you can take the antidote by just refusing to close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears and scream "nah, nah, nah, nah nah" until no longer cognisant.
As for history exonerating Bush 43 (as Laura Bush claims will soon occur), Herbert Hoover somehow doesn't elicit evocations of ecstasy 80 years later, and LBJ is still remembered more for a very bad war than his landmark legislative accomplishments. Now try combining starting a stupid war with overseeing an economic meltdown.
See where this is going, Laura?
Just two months ago, I met with Julie Blust, communications director for the National Bush Legacy Bus Tour sponsored by Americans United for Change. Upon it's arrival in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, she took me aboard this 45-foot long, 28-ton monument to Dubya's impact on the country and planet, from Katrina to corrupt no-bid contractors, economic destruction to "enhanced interrogation techniques".
Upon seeing the real record, as it appeared in video, picture and chart form on the walls of the Bush bus, it would be impossible to draw any other conclusion than that this man was a one-man wrecking crew (well, two and a half if you include Cheney). And that he'll saunter up alongside James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson and Warren Harding as the very definition of Oval Office calamity.
There is really only one arguable legacy of Bush's White House tenure that is a step forward for the US and all mankind. It's called President Obama.
22 Comments so far
Show AllThe Presidential Medal of Freedom will be awarded to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and John Howard of Australia on Jan. 13, said Bush's spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Ol' Georgie just put his Kiss of Death on this 'Albatross.'
Humbaba January 5th, 2009 10:37 pm, what, no last-minute posthumous medals for Augusto Pinochet, Papa Doc Duvalier, Anastasio Somoza (Debayle), Rafael Trujillo or George Lincoln Rockwell? Somebody in Bush's White House must be slipping.
Oh give me a fucking break. Dubya got everything he wanted not only from the rubberstamp GOP but also from the rollover Democrats ! He's as successful as Ronald Raygun IMHO !
The one difference is that the idiocy of those policies came home to roost well before he left office. Which is fortunate.
The problem I always had with Reagan is that I knew he was a bad president, but his staff were more competent and the Congress less willing to play along. So the disasters were off-put to future generations.
'effective' perhaps.
That's a very different statement than whether that 'effectiveness' was helpful or harmful to the USA and the world in general.
Oh the damage in the 80s, 90s, and this decade was done. I don't see any putoffs there. And it'll continue as long as the Democrats play status quo and go-along-get-along with the GOP just like they did with Nixon, Reagan, Delay, Gingrich, Dubya, etc ...
Cliff Schecter wrote: "Upon seeing the real record, as it appeared in video, picture and chart form on the walls of the Bush bus, it would be impossible to draw any other conclusion than that this man was a one-man wrecking crew (well, two and a half if you include Cheney). And that he'll saunter up alongside James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson and Warren Harding as the very definition of Oval Office calamity."
I agree that Junior will top the list of presidents at the bottom, so to speak, but I think Deadeye Dick actually was calling the -- ahem -- shots all along. I recall reading years ago, I think at Capitol Hill Blue, that, while Bush hid out in another room, Cheney would march into the Oval Office once a week and leave an 11" X 14" legal pad on Dubya's desk with his instructions for the coming week. But, then, I have also read that Cheney, Rove and the Gang simply treated Bush like the vacuous vainglorious Dauphin he is by flattering the dimwit into believing he was 'The Decider' while conning him into doing whatever they wished.
Either way, he is the Worst President in Our History, and no amount of malarkey from former White House drones is going to change that fact.
Bush is a TOXIC TERRORIST in Appalachia. http://www.wisecountyissues.com We can't stand anymore of the prosperity in Third World America.
But surely all we need to do is utter those two words that strike fear into the hearts of every American...."socialized medicine" and the Repugs will be back in droves!
What crap.
How can anybody call Dubya a failure? Forget popularity ratings. Dubya's ratings are still higher than those for the US Congress. Although I am a working class minion that loathes Dubya and his cronies, I need to face the facts:
As other posters have noted, Dubya succeeded in transferring more wealth to the 2% at the expense of the 98% (working class and poor) than any previous president. Now that is success with a capital S.
Dubya did not deceive the nearly half of the 98% that supported him in 2000 and 2004. He promised a boatload of supply side policy, and he delivered. I hope Obama will deliver as well on half of his promises.
Dubya's failure to achieve social security privatization in spite of a four month campaign costing hundreds of millions of dollars (January through April 2005) is the only "failure" I observed during his presidency. Can you find others?
He may indeed have transfered the cash, but his actions during the residency have also devalued that currency. The rich may not be so happy with the shrub once they figure out the true damage to the country.
Note; the debt/deficit is still there, that's a sign of taxes owed but defered to a later date. If you really think you don't have to pay taxes because the repukes argued that cutting taxes was the way to prosperity, well... Think about the fact that the debt has something called interest attached to it. That's compound interest, which means that the longer you take to pay it off, the more you'll pay. I expect the howls of protest from the echo chamberpot will be deafening during the Obama presidency.
Can you find others?
The dead and maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I thought it pretty clear in 2000 that many would die if Bush/Cheney won the Presidency, because it was just as clear that they both ENJOY killing. And the global dead were used to promote the War President Bull Shit that enabled them to kill. So BushCo delivered very well for the Reactionary Rich--its constituency. And that's how the history of this period ought to be approached--from a Class War perspective, as it provides the greatest scope and interpretive powers.
You're absolutely right. They both enjoy the killing. Really enjoy it. They have collections of photographs of Iraqi dead that they pour over, thinking "Killed you, you wog (expletive deleted))". These are two of the most evil, twisted people ever to serve in American government at its highest levels.
One must add Congress to the list with Bush/Cheney. They could never have gotten away with any of their lawbreaking without the complicity/encouragement of Congress. And one must also add the US Supreme Court for its crime of foisting Bush/Cheney upon us to begin with, as well as the supine reactions of Gore and Congress to the USSC's unconstitutional meddling in the 2000 election. There's even more blame to spread around when we include the corporate media/Propaganda and Indoctrination Systems. Several thousand deserve to rot in prison for bringing, abetting, and refusing to do their duty to rid us of the criminal Bush/Cheney regime--many of whom continue in positions of power, the current president elect, too.
But ultimately, it was the citizenry's greed and ignorance (the actual facets of American Exceptionalism) that allowed the circumstances that created the Bush/Cheney dynamic to begin with. It's easy to look at just BushCo behavior, but historical analysis is never that simple and causation is almost always multifaceted. Such a result is predictible when such a high percentage of the populace admit to believing in talking snakes and the myths that storybook contains.
Madhoosier asks, "How will Americans react to economically imposed sacrifice?"
Not well. Americans are used to having almost everything they want. If you can't actually pay for it, go into hock to get it. Max out credit cards; use up the equity in your home; borrow from family and friends. Two days later, when the things you bought aren't new anymore and the thrill is gone, go further into hock to get more new stuff. Break down the Wal-Mart doors and trample people to death to be the first to have the new and improved "it". No, they will not react well and the result, in many cases, will be violence and all kinds of deviant behavior borne out of this mass frustration.
Bush is just the front man for the empire. Blaming him misses the point. The empire will continue to treat the world as its possession. Changing the king won't change the kingdom. Obama will take over the management of the empire but he won't change course and start being a good neighbor. That doesn't fulfill the needs of an empire.
Hoa binh
George Wanker Bush's entire life has been a Grand Opera of Failure. It began when, as a child, he fell in love with lying, with putting one over on his parents or siblings or the legion of 'lesser' individuals he came into contact with every day. At this point, his character was set. Lying became his grand passion and he soon became a pathological liar for whom lying was like heroin for a hopelessly addicted junkie. Painfully aware of his woeful lack of intelligence, he lived the lives of pulp fiction heroes in his warped, twisted, malignant imagination. Later, whiskey and cocaine became 120 octane gasoline that gave his pathetic inner life a jet assisted take-off every time he partook of them. "I AM THE MAN!", George Wanker Bush thought to himself first thing every morning as he crawled out of bed. "I AM THE MAN!" A million dead later, a trail of lies that stretches from Earth to the moon and back and his nation nearly bankrupt, George Wanker Bush keeps on truckin', lying his ass off while posturing in front of the wardrobe mirror, still tirelessly telling himself "I AM THE MAN!"
Mordechai Shiblikov January 5th, 2009 1:03 pm, an acquaintance knew the Bush family in Texas back in the '50s and '60s. She said that Little George is just like his mother, and she didn't mean that as a compliment. As I recall, the words she used were "Barbara Bush was the most duplicitous, cruel, cold-hearted, arrogant, self-absorbed rhymes-with-witch I ever met in my life." (She was much too Old South polite to ever utter the 'B' word.) Obviously, the rotten apple didn't fall far from the tree. Even then, she thought the two eldest boys, Junior and Jeb, needed professional help -- as children, they were both dishonest, sneaky, vengeful and completely indifferent to the pain they caused others. She also claimed Poppy was a simpering ineffective Milquetoast who jumped when Babs cracked the whip and would never have entered politics except for her taunting that he was a pathetic wimp. Not for nothing is she sometimes called the "Dragon Lady" -- what an effect she's had on the world.
While Bush’s legacy for the vast majority of Americans is a legacy of failure for the two percent of the wealthiest Americans his presidency was a fantastic success. Bush slashed taxes on unearned income while shifting the tax burden onto the middle class and working poor. Under Bush labor and environmental protections were gutted. Under Bush consumer protection and worker safety laws were gutted. Under Bush bankruptcy laws were slanted to the advantage of banks while the value of residential housing values plummeted (the largest investment for most in the middle class). The net effect of these policies was to shift vast amounts of wealth from the middle class to the wealthiest Americans.
Under Bush the rights of the average citizen were destroyed and the nation edged ever closer to becoming a police state while at the same time “property rights” were expanded. Under Bush voters rights were destroyed while the influence of money in politics was greatly increased. Under Bush public education declined while public resources were shifted to private education.
Under Bush the profits of big oil exploded while real wages declined.
Under Bush “free trade” destroyed millions of American jobs while giant retailers like Wal Mart drove many locally owned retailers out of business.
Under Bush access to quality health care was lost by millions of Americans while profits of insurance companies and hospitals increased.
Yes, for the vast majority of Americans Bush’s legacy has been a disaster but for the wealthiest Americans Bush’s legacy has been one of undreamed success as their wealth multiplied several times over.
Unfortunately the short sighted greed of those wealthiest Americans that were the benefactors of Bush’s policies are having a devastating effect on the economy as a whole. The “deregulation” that Bush’s supporters clamored for has resulted in excesses that have caused America’s financial sector to collapse with a $700,000,000,000.00 bailout barely keeping the sector alive. Since the financial sector is being kept alive by federal life support there is virtually no lending. Because the banks aren’t lending money other businesses that require a line of credit to operate have to slash spending causing further economic contraction.
The shift of wealth away from the middle class has destroyed the backbone of America’s economy; consumer spending. The demand for everything from automobiles to zithers has crashed. Both the contraction of credit and consumer fear are combining to drive consumers away from the mall.
The overall effect of Bush’s policies that were designed to benefit the wealthy has been to destroy the economy that created their wealth in the first place. Now America’s economy is in a downward spiral and no amount of “bailouts” will reverse the structural changes implemented since the Reagan administration that are the cause of our current economic woes. We have dug an economic hole so deep that crawling out of it will take a generation’s worth of sacrifice.
The question becomes how will Americans react to economically imposed sacrifice? Will they offer each other a helping hand or a clenched fist? Will the political pendulum swing away from totalitarianism or toward it? Will we chose wise leaders or charlatans? Will we react to economic adversity by trying to improve the environment or will we use the poor economy as an excuse to further rape the environment? And will the poor economy increase the power of the vote or will tight finances increase the power of money in politics?
Sioux Rose
MADHOOSIER: Good points & observations. One positive that comes out of this is that for the rest of the world, the USA functions as a live cautionary tale showing in living color all the things NOT to do. Thus we may find that capitalism on steroids does not become the preferred system of developing nations.
Siouxrose January 5th, 2009 10:13 pm, in a strange way, the world's thinking has gone from rage that we allowed a pestilence like Bush/Cheney to run our nation to pity to elation that Obama will be taking over. Unfortunately, we may owe Junior a thank you -- without his profound failure as president on all fronts, I don't think someone like Obama would have had a chance at getting elected. And he also managed to nearly destroy the GOP.