9/11. It will be the defining moment of Bush's presidency. His years in power have been a nauseating mix of incompetence and inaction. Didn't the Bush team fail to heed advice from Clinton officials such as Richard Clarkethat that the Al Qaeda threat needed to be dealt with swiftly? Didn't Bush fail to act on the daily intel report of August 6, 2001 with the alarming title: "Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S." Nero fiddled in Crawford, Texas, and Rome later burned.
But in the waning days of the Bush administration, the president and his cronies -- desperate to spin gold out of eight years of dross -- are trying to make Americans believe that Barack Obama is inheriting an impeccable record on Homeland Security (a term they insist on using even though it conjures up images of Nazi Germany -- note to Obama, please rename that department post haste!). Republican pundits keep saying that Obama better be careful to keep us as safe as George Bush, and now news anchors are repeating it. If I hear it one more time, I'm going to upchuck.
If Bush is going to get credit for "keeping America safe" following 9/11, shouldn't he also take the blame for not keeping us safe on 9/11?
Unfortunately, 9/11 may not even be the worst day of Bush's presidency. His anni have been so horribiles that the last eight years have felt like being forced to live with an abusive stepfather: we are left with too many memories we would just as soon forget. When you thought it couldn't get any worse (Abu Ghraib), along came Katrina to prove how hopeless the Bush administration really was.
A newspaper as conservative (or should that be Conservative?) as The Telegraph is bidding Bush farewell by making a list of Bush's worst moments. As the article notes, his "catalogue of mistakes is particularly impressive." Indeed, it's damn difficult to decide which events of the Bush years were the most shocking or the saddest or posed the greatest threat to our nation. In chronological order, here are my memories of the top 10 worst days of the Bush administration.
1. November 24, 2000: Republicans bully their way into office
Angry Republicans -- mostly young, white men -- intimidate Miami-Dade County officials in the midst of a recount. They're nicely-dressed thugs working with Bush aides such as Karl Rove. They don't just chant, they pound on doors. They're scary. Like brownshirts. I watch the TV report in disbelief. Joe Lieberman calls them a "mob." Is this bullying a harbinger of how Republicans will govern?
2. August 9, 2001: Bush ignores science
I'm at work, editing a story on how Bush intends to restrict funding on stem cell researchdespite the fact that we are talking about cells smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. Bush is not fond of science. He will also ignore the fact that mercury from coal plants is poisoning the fish we eat. Globing warming? Bushies say, "It's debatable." Bush rips up the Kyoto agreement and proof of climate change is buried in, or deleted from, administration reports.
3. September 11, 2001: The day Bush flew around on Air Force One
I wake up to a phone call from my boss. I need to get to work right away. I'm supposed to sort through photos that are coming in from New York City without captions. One shot shows what appears to be Houston Street, covered in a foot of dust. No way, says a former New Yorker at the next desk. "Houston is too far away from the World Trade Center for there to be that much debris." Another coworker gets off the phone with his brother, who is walking home from Lower Manhattan, and confirms the magnitude of the disaster: "It's Houston Street, alright; the dust has rained down like dirty snow." There's also art of a man being rescued -- carried out in a chair. It seems beatific. We run it. Big. Of course, we don't realize that the man is already dead. We don't know yet that he's Father Judge. Most disturbing art of the day? Businessmen calmly jumping out of 110th floor windows.
4. March 19, 2003: Invasion of Iraq
Bush ensures a page in U.S. history books by attacking Iraq even though Iraqis are not directly threatening U.S. territory. It's a preventive strike. Japan made a preventive attackwhen they bombed Hawaii. We have become the enemy. My father, a lifelong Republican, is turning over in his grave. Sarah Palin may not give a hoot, but it will go down in history as the Bush Doctrine.
5. July 14, 2003: CIA operative's name leaked for political gain
Nixon must be (sniff!) so proud! In the rush to war, the Bush administration twisted intelligence findings. In retaliation against an administration critic who dared to tell the truth about Saddam's nonexistent WMD, Dick Cheney -- while humming L'etat, c'est moi -- decides to out Valerie Plame Wilson, the critic's wife. Bush later -- much later -- will commute Scooter Libby's sentence, proving to us that he and members of his administration are above the law, even if they have endangered CIA officers around the globe.
6. April 28, 2004: Abu Ghraib torture made public
CBS news puts a face on what happens when the Constitution is considered an albatross and the Geneva Conventions end up in the waste basket (along with the Kyoto agreement). Guantanamo. Rendition. Detention without charges. No right to a fair trial. Is this the country I grew up in?
7. August 6, 2004: The swift-boating of John Kerry
Karl Rove's well-worn copy of The Prince says to attack your enemy's strength. Bush's time in the military was a joke, and the Democratic candidate was a decorated war hero enthusiasticly joined on the campaign trail by by his crewmates. So the Rove machine paints Kerry as a liar and a wuss. Goebbels (sniff!) must be proud!
8. August 7, 2005: Showtime airs the last episode of Queer as Folk
I don't usually get caught up in TV shows, but this one was different. It was a lightning rod in the LGBT press and largely ignored by the mainstream media and the Hollywood establishment. Didn't Bush get reelected by appealing to our basest instincts instead of our better natures? At the same time that his administration was using gays as scapegoats, it was employing sexual humiliation techniques as torture. In a climate such as this, is it surprising that the adventures of Brian, Justin, Michael and the gang got no respect?
9. August 31, 2005: Thousands of Gulf residents stranded
If there has been a sadder day to be an American, I can't think of one. The federal government is failing to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Reporters are getting into the disaster zones but the 82nd Airborne can't swoop in? I'm on the phone talking to a reporter in New Orleans. A veteran war correspondent, he's telling me the conditions are the worst he has ever seen. He sounds tired, depressed. "This is an American city and it's worse than Falloujah."
10. You-name-the-date, 2008: The day you lost your job