One of the big "talking" points for the pundits has been the lack of or rather apparent lack of experience by Barack Obama. Obama only has two years in the Senate (four by the time the election rolls around) and a couple of years in state government before that ---- a pretty thin resume according to the "so-called" experts on Beltway politics. Well thin by the standards of the blowhards with diarrhea of the mouth on CNN, Faux, CBS et. al. But is it any thinner than the resume of the current loser-in-charge.
So speaking of EXPERIENCE – let’s take a look at the wealth of experience that is had by the current Shithead-in-Charge. I will grant that his resume isn’t thin. It is thick, as thick as thieves. SO exactly what did we get when Sandra casted that fateful deciding vote in 2000. How did his resume stack up prior to his election, appointment. Exactly what did this thick resume bring to the Oval Office.
George enjoying his days at Yale......
Youthful Indiscretions
chalk these up to acts of character building and emotional development
• Two negligent collisions, July & Aug 1962 in Houston TX.
• Two speeding tickets, July & Aug 1964 at Houston TX. Fined.
• Arrested for Disorderly Conduct, December 1966 at New Haven CT. Charges were dropped.
• Arrested for Disorderly Conduct in New Jersey, in 1967. Cautioned, released.
• Convicted for drunk driving in Maine in 1976 – blood alcohol level of 0.10, pled guilty, fined $150 and suspended from driving for two years.
(sources include cronus.com, The Guardian, The Smoking Gun)
The All powerful Governor of Texas
honing those critical governing skills
According to the University of Texas.....
The Governor of Texas’ power is quite limited. With the exception of the Secretary of State, the remaining members of the Governor's cabinet are also elected by popular vote. In addition, because the Lieutenant Governor runs on a separate ticket, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor can be (and have been) from different political parties. The Lt. Governor in fact has more overall power.
The office of governor is probably not as strong in Texas as in some other states. Legally, at least, the governor has little power over certain administrative functions and has no removal power over important elected officials. His privilege of legislative veto may be his strongest executive weapon. Politically, however, the governor has been an influence on the decisions of state government at almost all levels.
Running Texas isn't really a full-time job. The Texas legislature only meets for 140 days, and even then they only hold a session every other year. Otherwise they're on hiatus. That really tends to lighten the workload. Bush's typical workday included a two-hour afternoon break for napping, reading (snark) Camus and My Pet Goat, exercise, picking up brush or even playing video games.
Some accomplishments as governor of Texas
• Relaxed pollution laws for power and oil companies
• Grandfathered the dirtiest coal burning power plants, making them exempt from clean air laws
• Texas became the most polluted state in the Union in 1999.
• Asked Polluters help write Texas's environmental policies
http://www.topplebush.com/...
• Houston had the "highest ozone level reading in the nation", and was second most ozone polluted city in the country
• Slashed taxes, reduced state revenue to the point of bankruptcy and put the Texas government in debt for billions in borrowed money, the interest for which is now paid for by the Texas taxpayer.
• Set a record for the most executions by any Governor in American history
• Publicly mocked Karla Faye Tucker, a Christian female death row inmate, for her passionate clemency plea before she was executed.
A multi-cultural renaissance man
Prior to being elected, appointed President, George W. Bush rarely traveled. There is a quite a bit of discrepancy as to where and how often he traveled before he assumed the Presidency, but his only major trips of more than a couple of days were to Mexico, Israel, and China. He made brief visits to a scattering of other countries.
"Bush's foreign travels have been limited to three visits to Mexico, two trips to Israel, a three-day Thanksgiving visit in Rome with one of his daughters in 1998 and a six-week excursion to China with his parents in 1975 when his father was the U.S. envoy to Beijing."
Source:
http://quest.cjonline.com/...
A motivator
It is not a big secret that Bush is described at best as being "mediocre." He delegates the detail work to subordinates and only wants to be bothered with final yes-no decisions. He does not want to hear anything to goes against his though patterns. He is an awful public speaker, usually under-prepared for press conferences, clearly uncomfortable citing facts and figures. It is close to impossible for him to escape bestowing that trademark smirk of arrogance and his unforgettable condescending grin on his audience. As a matter of fact it is part of the Bush mystique. The man exudes no warmth, no candor, no genuineness, no sincerity, and is completely unable to draw in his audience. At best his speeches are comedic, at worst they are scary.
While the "base" loves this, most of America by now loathes his schtick. For many people, it was very appealing when it was "George we hardly knew ye." But now that we have seen this down-home public persona become the face of America and the source of policy and law – it is thoroughly embarrassing. The "base" got the President they wanted:
• someone they can relate to
• someone to have that beer with
• someone who avoids intellectual challenges
• someone who thinks he can will his way to success
• someone who sticks to his convictions – even when overwhelmingly wrong
• someone who looks to God for the answers
Bush has all those ‘assets’ and more – the problem it is those traits are NOT a sensible or astute way to govern a complex society in the 21st century.
Education
• Yale – joined "DKE" Delta Kappa Epsilon, "Animal House"-style fraternity known for hard partying, eventually becoming the president
• Like Dad, he was inducted into the secret society Skull and Bones
• Mediocre class ranking at college --- somewhere below the middle of the pack.
• Due to his father’s money and influence --- George Jr. could coast through life. Family connections showed him there was no problem that couldn't be solved with a little money, or a couple of well-placed phone calls from his father
Business Experience
corporate expertise to help run USA, Inc.
Started Arbusto Energy, an oil company in 1978. Never turned a profit. Somehow it got swallowed up in a 1982 merger with another energy company named Spectrum 7. The merger was engineered by a couple of Bush family friends, and lo and behold – made him the CEO of the new company. Financial ruin – conveniently avoided.
Soon (big surprise!) Spectrum 7 was in trouble. Harken Energy, run by a family friend, came in and rescues the brainiac CEO. George got options and a $120,000 salary, but since the heads of Harken feared another financial disaster, he was not given any actual work to do. Technically, he had some compliance job. But since dad was the President, he became the pretty face/celebrity shaking hands for money. He was good at it --- it required no heavy lifting and no intellect.
Harken, like Arbusto and Spectrum 7, was secretly in financial trouble. Harken was hiding massive debts through shell companies and complicated practices masterminded by the none other than the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson -- you know, the one that was very kind to Bush-friend Kenny-boy and his pals at Enron. Some of the transaction bordered on fraud. One deal he sign off on was with Aloha Petroleum, a deal that made Harken appear solvent when it really wasn’t.
A few weeks before the castaways hut on Gilligan’s Island finally came crashing down, Bush engaged in some insider trading and sold off $848,000 in Harken stock. He waited eight months to notify the SEC of his sale. But George's daddy was still President of the United States, and the SEC was headed by Bush family friends. So as you can expect, no action was taken.
Bush served for a decade on the board of a company that financed several R-rated, slasher and miscellaneous B-movies.
Bush invested in a small portion of the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that forcibly took land using eminent domain and tax-payer money. Most notably he traded Sammy Sosa to the White Sox. He also parlayed a $605K loan into a $14.9 Million profit using taxpayer money and eminent domain laws to evict homeowners, obtain land and increase the value of the shares in the Texas Rangers.
Source:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/...
Presidential Prepping
Enter Princess Ferragamo, Condi. She was to "learn him" foreign relations and world geography. You know, the well-traveled silver-spoon boy who called the citizens of Greece "Grecians," could not name the Prime Minister of India, didn’t know the name of the Foreign Minister of Mexico (one of the few countries he had been to), was surprised to hear Brazil had black people, mixed up Slovakia and Slovenia and thought the US was in Europe (due to NATO). Needless to say, while Condi has been a failure as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, she was an even more miserable failure as a teacher to Bush.
"I believe that a prosperous, democratic Pakistan will be a steadfast partner for America, a peaceful neighbor for India, and a force for freedom and moderation in the Arab world." Too bad Pakistan is not an Arab country
Ran for congress and lost. Enough said there. Those voters were smart people.
I haven’t even touched the military service aspect. After all that --- how can ANYONE worry that Barack Obama does not have enough experience? George W. Bush had plenty of experience --- screwing up and being a failure --- and we still elected, appointed him president – TWICE! Experience isn’t necessary to run government – Bush has proved that --- but strong emotional character, the ability to make people feel good, and not having a sense of entitlement --- are all necessary --- something people like Obama have, something George Bush is totally lacking.