In less than a year, the Bush administration will strut out of office, leaving the country in roughly the same condition as a toddler leaves a diaper.
This is from Graydon Carter in his Editor’s Letter in the June issue of Vanity Fair. Bobby Kennedy is on the cover, because it was forty years ago June 5th that Kennedy was assassinated while running for president.
Carter has little flattering to say about the current officeholder:
The report card on this White House will be a series of F’s. An optional war that has cost the country dearly in lives and resources? – F. Our reputation, military, and economy in tatters? – F. Wall Street an unregulated disaster? – F. Banks in crisis and airlines in bankruptcy? – F. A national debt that is through the roof? – F. Oil at more than $113 a barrel? – F. A tax system that favors the rich over the poor? – F. A generation of environmental protections shot? – F. Five-year record low in consumer confidence and new lows in “Are we headed in the right direction?” polls? – F. The loss of a great American city? – F.
As I look at this list, I think that Carter has nailed it. This has to be the most shameful legacy imaginable. There are virtually no meaningful accomplishments — none whatsoever — to counter the damage our idiot president has inflicted upon the nation.
And yet I would argue that Carter has only scratched the surface. I see no mention of our loss of civil liberties nor the destruction of our Justice Department. Also missing is the grab for unlimited executive power touched on in yesterday’s post, and Cheney’s claim to be untouchable because of executive privilege. The secrecy enshrouding Cheney’s backroom energy maneuvering dealt us a double blow, both in the energy policies that resulted and to our long-held conviction that government must be transparent. Then there is the demonization of anyone who disagrees with the Bush administration — the “you’re either with us or against us” attitude — and the threat of bludgeoning to follow. The United Nations under John Bolton’s reign of terror was one such victim.
Corruption. Publicly funded faith-based initiatives. Withholding of assistance to nations that don’t teach abstinence. Ideology-driven judges. Rewriting of scientific studies by political hacks. Signing statements. Wiretapping. The War on Drugs. The War on Terror. The War on Reason.
The erosion of consumer protections. Job promotions rather than punishment for incompetence. Lies. More lies. Blatant lies. And possibly more than a million people dead.
Are we there yet?
Graydon Carter again:
I subscribe to the theory that politics should be treated like a utility — you should be aware that it is there, and it must be monitored, but you shouldn’t have to keep your eye on it every minute, as we have for the past seven and a half years.
He refers to these years as the Dark Ages of American politics, and he’ll get no argument from me.
We need to hold our thoroughly corrupt and, yes, evil chief executive, accountable. Along with every accomplice in his administration.
We’re the deciders. Impeach now.
Filed under: crime, george bush, impeachment, iraq war, politics, u.s. history
