Halperin Hearts Bush

What next? Is he going to want to see Bush's face on Mt. Rushmore?

Let's take just three things that are totally wrong about Halperin's analysis:

1) Halperin asserts Bush didn't want the presidency as much as most people who seek it.

Well this is a truckload of stupid, isn't it? Maybe Halperin should talk to John McCain about what happened in South Carolina in 2000. If that qualifies as 'not wanting' the presidency, I shudder to think of what would count.

And then of course there is the small matter of Florida. Bush wanted the presidency badly enough to be come the first presidential candidate ever to ask the SCOTUS to prevent the counting of all the ballots.

Only someone who desperately wants to be president would file such a suit.

2) Halperin says he suspects that Bush performed better on 9/11 after the first two hours than other presidents would have.

This is an absurd statement on its face. Aside from the fact that you can't just wish away the first two hours of Bush's response, and aside from the fact that it's foolhardy not to consider the fact that Bush ignored warnings about bin Laden's intent to strike inside the United States, Halperin's argument here is entirely dependent on one's imagination.

What I'm saying is that Halperin is posing an irrelevant hypothetical -- it just makes no sense.

3) Halperin gives Bush "high marks" on "organizing homeland security" and "dealing with threats around the world."

It is true that other than the post-9/11 anthrax attacks (and arguably the DC sniper), the only domestic terror attack during the Bush Administration was 9/11.

As for whether this means Bush deserves credit for "dealing with threats around the world," it's worth remembering that our military continues to face attacks overseas, as do our allies. In fact, more Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than died on 9/11.

On the question of whether Bush has done a good job of organizing the Homeland Security Department, we need look no further than Hurricane Katrina to see the disastrous incompetence of the Bush Administration in action.

So while we can debate whether or not Bush deserves credit for limiting domestic terror attacks to 9/11, it's indisputable that both his war and foreign policies have been complete failures, and on the domestic front, Bush was totally unable or unwilling to put in place the type of emergency preparedness plan that this country needs to deal with major disasters.

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The bottom-line is this: there's a reason that Bush is the least popular President in American history, and it's not because those of us outside the beltway are stupid. We know what a disaster the Bush Administration has been -- because we are the ones who have been forced to live with it.