"Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation’s promise through civility, courage, compassion and character."
- George W. Bush 1/20/2001 (Inaugural speech)
And with that, our 8-year national nightmare began. As we quickly came to realize, George W. Bush possessed none of those qualities and in fact it would be hard to point to any president in my lifetime who has displayed less civility, exhibited greater cowardice, offered less compassion and revealed more character flaws that has our outgoing president. Richard Nixon was a prince compared to this demon.
It's a cruel reality that even though we will be rid of the Bush/Cheney cancer in mere days now, the damage they've wrought and the pillaging that they've overseen barely allow us more than a fleeting moment to breathe a sigh of relief for their long overdue departure. Their ghosts will be with us for a long time to come.
But breathe a sigh of relief we should and we will. On January 20, 2009 a seismic change will occur in that strange and scurrilous world of Washington that is both astounding in its improbability and exhilarating in its possibilities. A change that perhaps became possible only due to the acute malfeasance of the Bush administration.
As Bush winds down his Tragical History Tour - whitewashing his record, polishing his terminally tarnished legacy and retelling lies that have long ago been debunked, perhaps his greatest achievement was his unwitting contribution to the election of a man who will now be responsible for clearing the destruction that 2 terms of a dangerously twisted ideology can produce.
Some of the catastrophic blunders, morally-bankrupt policy decisions and outright criminality that has brought us to this place in time:
Ignorance of real warning signs preceding the attacks of September 11.
The launch of a war in Afghanistan with no clear objective and little thought to the amount of resources needed to sustain the slightest progress against a persistent Taliban entrenched in a hellish battlefield.
The launch of an illegal war in Iraq that was sold to the American public through lies and fear.
Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and all the other nightmarish prisons where torture was used as a matter of policy with the tacit approval of the White House.
A Justice Department “legal” team led by John Yoo who wrote briefs bestowing the President with literally unlimited power - including the power to break our laws, most prominently those involving torture, detainment and surveillance - leaving the smoldering remains of constitutional law and their own humanity in their path.
Publicly revealing the identity of a covert CIA agent for political revenge.
The destruction of nearly every government agency - shattered by the infusion of politics and partisanship from FEMA to the FDA, the FCC, the EPA and on and on.
A Justice Department so driven by partisan politics that actual investigation of real crimes took a backseat to a witch hunt against attorney’s who refused to indulge Karl Rove and pretend that voter fraud was a real danger to our democracy. The painful comedy of the Alberto Gonzales congressional hearings intended to address this U.S. attorney scandal just added to the surreal image of a government in the throes of a legal and moral meltdown.
Violation of FISA, illegal wiretapping, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and suspension of habeas corpus.
A lack of any real Energy policy beyond the apparent collusion with the major oil companies to ensure their maximum profit.
The disastrous events and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and a president and government so criminally disengaged that it’s easy to believe that Bush truly thought “Brownie” was doing a heckuva job.
The near-absolute meltdown of our economy thanks to deregulation, greed and indifference – resulting in unprecedented unemployment, home foreclosures and soaring deficits.
A Middle East in an utter violent shambles and on a seemingly endless roadmap to hell from the Gaza Strip to Tel Aviv to Damascus to Baghdad and back again.
A denial of the dangers of global climate change and a general tendency to reject or flat out rewrite established science to fit the administration agenda.
An Orwellian approach to environmental concerns where a law that would weaken the Clean Air Act is named “The Clear Skies Initiative” and one which allows more development and logging in our national parks is called “The Healthy Forests Initiative”.
The shameful Terri Schiavo spectacle where the privacy of a woman who wished to die with dignity was shattered by the Christian Right and the GOP’s sense of self-righteousness and utter lack of morality. The very worst of what our country and our government are capable of were on display in all its blazing lunacy.
The disgraceful lack of attention to healthcare reform, poverty and children’s health issues.
The alienation of allies, the weakening of our military and the continued division of our country along partisan political lines.
The death of thousands of Americans and Iraqis in an attempt to exert American military and political influence in the Middle East and ensure the continued flow of oil.
Of course this is by no means a complete list.
On Monday the disgraced serial-failure of a lame-duck president voluntarily aired his myriad mental disorders during his final presidential press conference. With his usual deft mix of petulance, contempt, ignorance and utter lack of self-awareness, he summarily distanced himself from any real responsibility for the disasters of his making and his enabling. Even for a man whose efforts at rudimentary communication could charitably be described as devoid of any semblance of coherence and reality this was indeed a stunning but fitting last unscripted moment. It's a wonder he wasn't intercepted by a team of mental health professionals and forced into a straight jacket on the spot.
As Bush prepares to slink back to Texas in just a few days, he leaves President-elect Barack Obama, who by the way is strangely prone to thought, reason and coherent sentences, in control of a country in deep crisis. Regardless of the ruins the Bush administration has left in its wake or the magnitude of the challenges that lie ahead, the collective sigh of relief we breathe on January 20 is certain to reverberate around the world.