Really Pissed Off!

The time is near when we can speak of President George W. Bush in the past tense, although he leaves a living legacy, which will probably outlive most of those who bother to read this. This legacy has been placed at the feet of President Barack Obama, who will take the responsibility of undoing what’s been done to America over these eight painful years. As the curtain closes on the Bush Administration, the future of America has not looked this dim since the election of Abraham Lincoln and the shadow of a Civil War. We face far different problems, but the net result is that the future hangs in the balance, and so do we.

Bush’s Presidency began clouded with the final outcome decided by the Supreme Court as to who had won the 2000 Election. With the nation so divided after that election, Bush’s “I’m a uniter, not a divider” statement in the 2000 Election was what the nation needed. What it received was “I’m the decider!” An election contested for months and decided by the highest court in the land became a mandate for the new administration, which had its agenda to implement as soon as possible and cut and slash anyone who did not meet that agenda. This attitude would persist throughout the eight years of the Bush Administration, with horrific results. Let’s take a quick look at what George W. Bush did or didn’t do as the guardian of this nation. On March 28, 2001, he refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol as it would be harmful to our Economy and needed to be backed by “sound science.” With its faults, the Kyoto Protocol had no leadership without the US and an opportunity was lost to deal with climate change early in the decade. Shortly after our response to 9/11 and our invasion in Afghanistan, Bush follows the agenda of the long established neocons in January 2002 by branding Iran and Iraq as members of “The Axis of Evil” and setting up plans to invade Iraq. In case you had forgotten, it was Iran who helped the US join with The Northern Alliance in Afghanistan only a few months before, thus ending any chance to deal openly with that nation. With tainted intelligence, George W. Bush takes the US away from the fight against the real enemy in Afghanistan and goes to war with Iraq, which was number one on the short list of the neocons that included Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith. These were the same people who had nearly talked President Clinton into action against Iraq in 1997. Although all decisions were made by Bush, we do not know how and who may have influenced him. The dark shadow that spread over the first term of this President is Vice President Dick Cheney. In time, we will know the real truth to this episode.

Unfortunately, the list is endless and there is no sense in going into detail here. We know it well: Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, waterboarding, violating the Constitution regarding the gathering of intelligence, Katrina and tarnishing our moral image to the rest of the world. The list continues with the final disaster to this Administration occurring in 2008, as The Economy tanked. Not all of this is the fault of the Bush Administration, but unfortunately for both Hoover and Bush, both economic crashes occurred on their respective watches. Interestingly, both attempted to solve the problem the same way….by throwing money at financial institutions. Hoover signed The Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act and Bush signed the “TARP” Trouble Asset Relief Program. What didn’t work in 1932 appears not to be working in 2008. Both Administrations were Republican and both Administrations will take the blame in history. Is George W. Bush the worst President in U.S. History? President James Buchanan’s Administration preceded the Civil War, with Buchanan encouraged the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott Case, which stated that Congress had no power to keep slavery out of U.S Territories and did little to challenge the states that threatened to secede from the Union. In hindsight, Buchanan could do little to stop is as newly elected President Abraham Lincoln soon found out. President Warren G. Harding probably had the most corrupt Administration, but the Teapot Dome Scandal pales in the face of what’s happened both at home and in Iraq under the Bush administration. We have yet to find where all the funds have gone in Bush’s “War on Terrorism” Other candidates such as Millard Fillmore and John Tyler are not even in the running for the Number One spot! Even Jimmy Carter is safe! Bush Wins! We Loose!

From CBS "Sunday Morning:" Watch and you decide!