I just returned from Qualcomm Stadium where I witnessed the end of my beloved Indianapolis Colts' season with an overtime loss to San Diego Chargers in the first-round of the playoffs. Now, before you go off on me, I am in no way comparing this to some of the tragic stories (health, economic, social inequity) that have been relayed here over recent weeks. This was just a football game with no lasting importance but it was important to me and I was bummed.
I'm happy to report though that the smile has returned to my face thanks to Frank Rich, Newsweek and Associated Press. Don't get me wrong, I wish we hadn't suffered through the last 8 years of Bush-Cheney-Rove. But when he failed, Bush sure did take failure to a whole new level. The silver lining is he did Democrats a big favor by showing the country what conservative leadership looks like.. As we get closer to the end of his term, I am really enjoying the articles calling him out for being the failure that he is.
Frank Rich's "A President Forgotten but Not Gone" is an absolute must read.
You start to pity him until you remember how vast the wreckage is. It stretches from the Middle East to Wall Street to Main Street and even into the heavens, which have been a safe haven for toxins under his passive stewardship. The discrepancy between the grandeur of the failure and the stature of the man is a puzzlement. We are still trying to compute it.
And another choice observation:
Bush kept America safe (provided his presidency began Sept. 12, 2001). He gave America record economic growth (provided his presidency ended December 2007). He vanquished all the leading Qaeda terrorists (if you don’t count the leaders bin Laden and al-Zawahri). He gave Afghanistan a thriving "market economy" (if you count its skyrocketing opium trade) and a "democratically elected president" (presiding over one of the world’s most corrupt governments). He supported elections in Pakistan (after propping up Pervez Musharraf past the point of no return). He "led the world in providing food aid and natural disaster relief" (if you leave out Brownie and Katrina).
Newsweek also weighs in with a scathing article The Enigma in Chief.
Bush's three most obvious legacies are his decision to invade Iraq, his framing of a global war on terror after September 11 and the massive financial crisis. Each of these constitutes a separate epic in presidential misjudgment and mismanagement. It remains a brainteaser to come up with ways, however minor, in which Bush changed government, politics or the world for the better. Among presidential historians, it is hardly an eccentric view that 43 ranks as America's worst president ever. On the bright side, he has nowhere to go but up.
But he was not without his successes:
The Bush administration has had startling success in one area, namely keeping its inner workings secret. Intensely loyal, contemptuous of the press and overwhelmingly hostile to any form of public disclosure, the Bushies did a remarkable job of keeping their doings hidden for eight years.
And here's a good question for future historians to consider when writing about our 43rd President.
Did Bush's own innocence and incompetence drive his missteps? Or was it the people around him, most importantly his vice president, who manipulated him into his major bad choices?
In addition to Rich and Newsweek, AP reminds us of some of the more infamous Bush-isms.
Who could ever forget:
"There's an old saying in Tennessee I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee that says, fool me once, shame on shame on you. Fool me you can't get fooled again." _ Sept. 17, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn.
Or
"Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." _ Sept. 6, 2004, at a rally in Poplar Bluff, Mo.
Or my personal favorite:
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." _ Aug. 5, 2004, at the signing ceremony for a defense spending bill.
AP also has a story out about how Bush's personality shapes his legacy but as Jed Lewison astutely notes:
A lot of people like Bush. They just don't like what he's done.
So yeah, maybe I feel a little guilty about enjoying it, but I look forward to more articles over the next two weeks that remind us just how mind-boggling bad the Bush 43 administration was for our country.