It was 10.40pm on Friday, October 10.
The US President, beginning his Friday in Washington, was calling for a pre-arranged discussion of the global economic crisis that was hammering credit and stock markets around the globe. […]
After the President explained the pressure from Europe for a G7-brokered action on supporting the credit sector and reforming regulation, Rudd immediately insisted the G20 was the solution.
Rudd was then stunned to hear Bush say: “What’s the G20?”
. . . coupled with the certainty that whatever you did was and is righteous, despite what anyone else might think:
Aides say privately that Bush long ago made peace with his low approval ratings, which have persisted despite significant improvements in Iraq, the original source of his polling woes. Some current and former aides argue that Bush’s unpopularity has made it easier for him to push ahead with difficult decisions, such as a series of dramatic interventions into the financial markets that have angered conservatives over the past two months.
“You’re more liberated to act when you’ve internalized those low approval ratings,” said Pete Wehner, a former top Bush adviser. “This is a White House and a president that are in some ways galvanized by a crisis.” […]
“When you’re inside, and the president is so optimistic, you’re not paying as much attention to the noise outside,” said Candida “Candi” Wolff, a former White House legislative affairs director. “It keeps everybody focused.”
Bush, the Daddy President whose kids all hate him now, but once they get older . . . they’ll realize he was even stupider and more venal than they remembered. Thank goodness he won’t be President much longer. Even as we speak, he continues to try to deliberately damage our country through the implementation of failed ideologically based policies as rewards for past corporate campaign contributions to Republicans:
Dozens more regulations are expected to come in for OIRA review before January.
Critics say many of these last-minute rules are designed to weaken existing laws and regulations, particularly those protecting the environment and worker safety. The Interior Department, for example, recently proposed a rule to weaken curbs on mountaintop mining, giving mining companies a long-sought victory. The practice is opposed by both presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz.
Another Interior Department rule proposed in July would allow federal agencies to approve power plants, dams and other infrastructure projects without consulting biologists to see if the construction would harm endangered species.
“In many cases, these are giveaways to industry, to roll back rules that they have long despised,” said Rick Melberth, director of regulatory policy at OMB Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group. […]
“The federal agencies charged with enforcing the law have instead done all they could to roll back regulations and ignore environmental protections,” said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel at Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm that favors strong environmental laws.
Protecting the health and safety of the American people — not a Bush priority. Benefiting multinational corporations and screwing over ordinary citizens and the next administration? Mission Accomplished.
