President Bush would have you believe, as he claims he does, that when all is said and done (and you and I and everyone we know is in our graves) history will ultimately decide that he was one hell of a President:
President Bush leaps forward … envisioning a distant future in which Iraq is a tranquil democracy, Palestinians live peaceably alongside Israelis and terrorism is a tactic of the past.
“Imagine if a president had stood before the first graduating class of this academy five decades ago and told the Cadet Wing that by the end of the 20th century, the Soviet Union would be no more, communism would stand discredited and the vast majority of the world’s nations would be democracies,” Bush urged graduates at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs nearly two weeks ago.
As the door begins to close on his tenure, Bush is increasingly drawing on selected events of the past to argue that history will vindicate him on Iraq, terrorism, trade and other controversial issues. […]
In May alone, Bush employed broad historical references in about a dozen speeches and interviews, looking back to the middle of the 20th century and forward to the middle of the 21st. He has focused on similar topics during private GOP fundraisers, according to White House aides. “People can understand it, and people can then understand when the president talks about 60 years from now what we could be enjoying,” said press secretary Dana Perino.
A week before his address at the Air Force Academy, Bush told paratroopers at Fort Bragg, N.C., that “when the history books are written . . . they will show that freedom prevailed.” And during his May trip to the Middle East, Bush told Arab leaders: “Just imagine what this region could look like in 60 years.”
Yes, well. What can one say to that? Actually, quite a lot.
(cont.)
To begin, let’s recognize this for what it is: a shallow political tactic to soften up his own base, and to keep campaign contributions flowing to Republicans, and especially to “Johnny Mac” McCain. Because few of Bush’s policies are likely to survive a Democrat in the White House.
Not the tax cuts for the rich and mega-corporations. Not the devotion to endless war in the Middle East. Not the de-regulation (or simple failure to fund the regulatory agencies) of industries as diverse as the Banking and Financial sector to Big Pharma and Big Ag. Not the continued use of “free trade” compacts to filter jobs out of the US into countries where high wages, labor laws and environmental protections are few and far between, if they exist at all. Not the willful disregard and denigration of legitimate science. Not the drive to privatize every service government provides, from national security to highway maintenance, from prisons to the judicial system, from drug safety to social security.
No, this is a political ploy, for the short term, but also for the long term. Bush is desperate to salvage the reputation the Modern Republican Brand which is so closely identified with his Presidency. And though many in his party are running away from him as fast as their little legs will carry them, there are a number of factions within the party who are desperate to portray Bush as a major historical figure, because his policies were their pipe dreams not so long ago. He took their agendas and implemented them.
The Neoconservative foreign policy of American Imperialism and world domination through the use of military force. The expansion of the military and the massive growth of the defense budget. The “drown government in a bath tub” small mindedness of the Grover Norquist Fan Club which got the tax cuts for wealthy individuals and multinational corporations they had long demanded. The funding of “faith based” approaches to public health, poverty, drugs, you name. The promotion of homophobia, racism and nativism. The reversal of longstanding policies promoting civil rights and equal opportunity. The unimagined accretion of government power in the hands of the Executive Branch.
If Bush is diminished, if he is judged a failure, then so are all the various groups of the conservative movement whose plans and plots and policy proposals he supported, promoted and implemented. The entire modern conservative coalition is at risk, because in almost every area, putting their ideas into practice has proven catastrophic for our country. Our economy is in shambles. Our infrastructure is failing and outdated. Our military is overstretched to the breaking point. Our international reputation, power and influence is at its lowest ebb in my lifetime. Our civil liberties have never been more at risk. The prosperity of ordinary Americans is fading away, as higher oil prices and a sharply devalued dollar combine with massive personal and governmental debt levels to destroy the middle class. Our educational system is lagging ever farther behind those of our rivals. And even the strongest claim Republicans have made, that only they know how to keep us safe from the terrorist bogeymen, is seen by more and more Americans as a lie.
So, I do not for m=one minute accept that Bush’s misuse of historical references to argue for the value of his Presidency, in the long run, is merely the desire of one man to resurrect his reputation. No, it is a joint effort of all of those who put him in power so that he could effectuate their deepest desires. Well he did that. All to well.
I think history will judge George W. Bush harshly. I’m no more a professional historian than he is, but I suspect I’ve read more history and read it more deeply than he has, and I believe I understand more of the lessons of human history than he ever can or will.
So how will he and his Presidency be judged? Here’s my assessment:
War Criminal
He fought an aggressive war against a country that was not an imminent threat to us, nor likely to be one in our lifetimes, and he did so based on lies and deception. That alone qualifies him as a war criminal under the standards enumerated in the UN Charter, International Law and the Nuremberg Principles. But he also advocated the use of chemical and incendiary weapons against civilian populations. He advocated the use of torture and physical abuse against any person taken into custody by the US Military and Intelligence agencies. He authorized the training and arming of Death Squads in Iraq. He employed air strikes against civilian population centers, a tactic that led to the deaths of thousands of civilians. He authorized the cut off of food, water and medical supplies to urban areas such as Fallujah when it was under siege by US forces. All of the above qualify as war crimes.
Economic Failures
He more than doubled the national debt, and eradicated the budget surplus which President Clinton left him. His tax policies and his trade policies have weakened America by encouraging the exporting of high paying jobs overseas. His refusal to consider funding needed infrastructure repairs, finance mass public transit or develop alternative energy sources has weakened our ability to compete with our major economic competitors, as has his refusal to consider universal health care for all Americans. His policies led to the lowest job growth since the Great Depression, to a real estate bubble that, now it has burst, threatens to bring down our financial system. Not to mention his wars in the Middle East (and rumors of wars) have led to the speculative bubble in crude oil which may be the the critical last step that tips us toward economic collapse.
National Security Failures
Under his watch, the 9/11 attacks occurred despite the insistent and constant warnings he was given by the principal intelligence and counter-terrorist analysts in the government that terrorist strikes against the United States were likely to occur during the summer of 2001. Then he tried and failed to cover up his own administration’s malfeasance. He failed to eradicate Al Qaida as a force in the winter of 2001-2002, opting instead to divert resources to an invasion of Iraq, thus allowing Al Qaida and its Taliban allies to reconstitute themselves in Western Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan. He did nothing to reign in support for radical Sunni based terrorists affiliated or aligned with Al Qaida by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, despite proclaiming them as our essential allies in the War on Terror. His policies in Iraq actually increased the terrorist threat to our country and the world, according to our own Intelligence Community’s consensus analysis. He has over-funded overseas military expeditions (in large part due to massive corruption in the administration of funds paid to private contractors) while underfunding needed security measures and improvements at our ports, our chemical and nuclear facilities, our major cities which are the likeliest target of future attacks. He failed to adequately fund first responders such as hospitals, law enforcement, fire fighters and EMT providers to improve their terror attack response capability. His misuse of our military has degraded equipment and degraded the readiness of all units, but especially the Marines and Army, due to multiple tours of duty in Iraq. He prevented necessary oversight by Congress to insure that the actions being taken in Iraq and Afghanistan were effective, from a cost standpoint, a tactical military standpoint and a strategic standpoint. He permitted his subordinates to out an active covert CIA agent working to prevent proliferation of WMD, and to silence an FBI whistle-blower (i.e., Sibel Edmonds) for purely partisan political gain.
Foreign Policy Failure
His unilateral, go it alone, cowboy approach to diplomacy and his desire to employ military force instead of diplomacy has weakened America’s alliances, destabilized the Middle East, and unnecessarily antagonized Russia and China. His neglect of the Korean peninsula permitted North Korea to acquire nuclear weapons. His policy of torture and extraordinary rendition have ruined America’s reputation abroad, and weakened our influence by desecrating the moral authority we had so assiduously built up over the last century. His unbridled support for Israeli military actions against Lebanon and Gaza, and for the continued construction of settlements in the Occupied Territories has set back the Palestinian Peace Process for a generation. His rejection of Iranian peace overtures in 2003 and the failed aftermath of the Iraq invasion has strengthened the power and influence of Iran in the region to our detriment. His withdrawal from the ABM treaty and refusal to negotiate a weapons free zone in space with China and Russia threatens a new arms race involving both nuclear and space based weaponry.
Most Corrupt Administration
There are so many examples of abuses of power and corruption by Bush officials that it is impossible to do them all justice. In lieu of a complete list, let me cite you just one name which is emblematic of all the many instances of dishonesty, impropriety, illegality and unethical practices that flourished during the Bush years: Jack Abramoff. Enough said.
Environmental and Public Health Failures
From sabotaging and reducing EPA inspections/investigations into numerous industries which release pollutants, to actively denying and suppressing the results of research by government scientists on global warming, from increasing the amount of toxic pollutants in our waters and our air, to relaxing the standards on industrial pollution, derailing the regulation of coal burning power plants and bowdlerizing government reports to read like badly written propaganda for Big Oil, no administration in history has had such a sorry record on the environment. Combine this with Bush’s record on Public Health Issues (think poisoned food and toxic toys from China, for one) and you have the perfect paradigm for how corporate control over essential government regulatory agencies mixed with an ideological fanaticism antagonistic to government solutions can lead to disaster for the health and welfare of a nation’s citizenry, and in the case of global climate chane, the world community itself.
Diminution of Civil Liberties and Government Accountability
Two words this time: Unitary Executive. This bogus legal theory of unbridled power in the person of the President is the basis for an plethora of harms done to our Constitution and our civil rights. It justified the warrantless wiretapping of millions of Americans in direct violation of the law, the torture and unlawful detainment of US citizens and others without recourse to counsel or to due process of law (i.e., fair trials), and to unprecedented secrecy in which everything the President or his minions did, lawful or unlawful, major or minor, was classified as a national security secret and hidden from public view or Congressional scrutiny. It justified spying on Quakers and Vegans as potential terrorist organizations. It permitted the use if the Department of justice as a political weapon to take down and convict Democratic politicians on spurious charges that could only be viewed as political prosecution (e.g, Don Siegelman). It permitted voter illegal voter suppression efforts by Republicans while giving legitimacy to phony charges of voter fraud against Democrats and voting rights organizations. It allowed numerous violations of the Hatch Act, the law which prohibits government employees from being used to advance the partisan interests of one party over the other. It permitted the generation of government propaganda fed to news organizations, and the payment of government funds to individuals willing to shill on behalf of the President’s policies. It allowed the compilation of massive data bases with data regarding financial matters, health issues and even spending habits of god knows how many millions of us. It led to concentration camps for suspected illegal immigrants and nightly raids on Latino communities in order to intimidate individuals regardless of their immigration or citizenship status. And it led to the suppression of free speech and assembly rights including the thousands of arrests without reasonable cause during the 2004 Republican Convention in New York City. All done in secret, all done in violation of our Constitutional rights, and all done with a complete lack of accountability for most of the offenders.
Excessive Partisanship
Bush was the culmination of a long term Republican effort to divide the country into bitterly opposed factions, one weak through attacks by a media ever more controlled by republican and corporate interests, and the other inflamed by a overlapping network of hate speech which demonized all opposition to Republican rule, and in particular President Bush as lunacy at best, and traitorous and evil, at worst. His “permanent campaign” style of governance, as practiced by Karl Rove and Dick Cheney, took hate and divisiveness to a new level, denigrating Liberals, Democrats, African Americans, Latinos, Gays and Lesbians and Trans-gendered people, Muslims and anyone else who they deemed a threat, all in the name of “Patriotism” or “Family Values” or whatever other slogan they could find to slap on the message of hate they promoted. And Bush was their leader. Rove was his guy. The responsibility for such hypocrisy and manufacture polarization falls squarely on the President’s shoulders.
Conclusion: Worst President in History
It’s not even close. Through sins of commision and omission, George W. Bush has done more to damage to our republic and our Constitution than any President I’ve studied, and that includes classic failures such as Herbert Hoover and James Buchanan, and non-entities such as Milliard Fillmore and Warren J. Harding. He led an administration that was more corrupt, more venal, more economically misguided, less engaged, more partisan, more incompetent, more secretive and more criminal than any I know. And serious professional historians of American history agree with me. Sixty years won’t be long enough to wipe his reputation clean, nor will a hundred years be enough to time restore his “legacy” because one can’t turn toxic sludge into something palatable to ingest, no matter how hard one tries. And Bush is by far the most toxic and foul President our nation has ever had to endure. The sooner he leaves office, the better.
