Someday far off in the distant future, some youngster somewhere, born after 2008, is going to say to you, "My history teacher's telling me that the Bush 43 Administration wasn't really all that bad. I think the man's being judged too harshly by history."
This is the point at which you pull out this link.
Jee-zis Christ!
I'm currently on item 210 -- out of 399 -- and I'm still thinking, Good God, they got away with that!
Breathe. In. Out.
9 comments:
I'm not too worried that some revisionist scholar will someday try to rehabilitate 43 - it's probably inevitible given the number of grads from from Regent U, Liberty U, Patrick Henry, etc. However, you still have to work with the facts. Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, US Grant, and Herbert Hoover (and Jeff Davis?) all lead failed administrations. While some may be sympathetic characters, the governments they lead were mediocraties - few would argue otherwise. He won't get the Truman treatment because Dub was grossly ineffective. Truman had some very notable successes and showed leadership, although Korea and domestic policy didn't go so well. Dub had marginal successes - Medicare part D and "no child left behind" are dwarfed by Iraq, Afganistan, Katrina; ineffective (ok, BAD) domestic policy; massive budget deficits; the wrecking of the federal government and military; disregard for the constitution; cronyism; etc, etc, etc. Even "keeping us safe from another terror attack" is a weak claim, given that it's part of the job description as CiC. Even Hitler and Stalin have their proponents, but over the long haul they will continue to be recognized for the damage they wrought, not the what good (if any)they did. That'll be 43's story too.
xjmueller
hey, XJ:
Are you the Purcellville Person who pops in here on occasion? (StatCounter seems to think do.) If so, we should get together, compare notes... Hit me at the address in my right column...
I'd mark NCLB as an outright failure, myself!
The scary thing was how Hugh was only able to detail a relative few of the items -- but all of them do have more details! If he goes on to fill out the brief items, that's going to be one scary book!
CAPTCHA: weept
That's one perceptive CAPTCHA, David...
While I agree completely that W will be at home in the trash heap of US presidents, the thrashing of this straw man, comforting as it is to our conceits, is unnecessary.
His policies failed. His closest advisers cleaved him to disastrous forays in foreign ideology also know as policy. His execution of domestic necessity failed. His religious certitude missed the spiritual mark. And as has been pointed out, his many disappointments approach the infinite.
W will be given a singularly american pass, and rightly so, that in spite of his dogged ideological determination in the face of obvious failure and attempt to garner monarchical power to the presidency, he gave up the throne, willingly, without knife or gun to his head. Had he done otherwise, his villainy would be certain. But in his lawful abdication lies his hope for redemption.
He is gone. His sloughed skin decays on the floor of the oval office. The stain of his failures falls to the new administration to rid. Good bye. Good luck. Good riddance.
In the spirit of our new president, I offer a raised glass to his passing, may his idiocy rest in peace, forever. And may we as a country find that, as time clears the haze of political hatred, in spite of his failure, he intended good and was not a charlatan.
And it may come to pass. BTW, I'm not offering odds.
Christ Almighty, I had the basic outlines, but I'm almost happy I didn't have all the data. I might be at the bottom of one of Madison,WI's lakes even as we speak, if I had had it.
To me, there is an awful story within the legacy that probably won't be adequately told - the human suffering and tragedy. In my local paper today there is a story about the lawsuit filed against Halliburton by the parents of a local kid who was electrocuted due to faulty wiring at his camp in Iraq. There have been at least 18 of these. Sure, we've got the facts behind the awful deeds, we know the sheer audacity and dispassionate greed that motivated them, but there are countless tragedies resulting from the actions of this fuckhead and his cronies, and they're all just going to walk away expecting history to forgive them. No fucking way.
Yortz, feller was definitely born w/ a golden strapon up his ass.
An Upstep or a Downstep, give me a break! "in spite of his failure, he intended good and was not a charlatan"?? I don't fukken think so, buckaroo! The man is a fool, traitor, thief, lier, murder, chatlatan and so much worse! Personally, I hope he lies dead and rotting in the street in front of his mother's house as he has left so many!
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