The January 3rd issue of The Wall Street Journal carried an op-edit piece allegedly penned by the current occupant of the White House. In fairness, I am inclined to believe George actually did write most of the article in that no one else could be this clueless. Seriously, if this President were any more tone-deaf, he could appear on American Idol. If you haven't read the piece, you can find it on "whatplanetisthisguyon.com."
According to George, none of the disasters of the past six years were his fault. Well, that's a relief! There is no mention anywhere of the catastrophic loss of life in Iraq. No discussion of the lies that were perpetrated to persuade America to support the invasion. No hint of the four years of misdirection, miscalculations, and misinformation that have spilled from this Administration. Instead we are told that we will soon be hearing the details of the "new strategy" that will enable us to win the war in Iraq. One can presume that, had the Republicans not been crushed in the 2006 mid-term elections, we would have continued with the failed policies of "Gravedigger" Don Rumsfeld and "Shotgun" Dick Cheney.
What election returns did the White House receive? The ones I saw were such a clear and decisive repudiation of the Iraq War that even Karl Rove's usual fear campaign couldn't change them. America wants out of this mess and soon. At present we are standing in the middle of a civil war and providing 125,000 targets for both sides. We should never have gone in, we shouldn't be there now, and we need to get out as quickly as possible. Period.
Instead of at least considering that he might have misread the situation, the President had the colossal nerve to once again equate the invasion of Iraq with 9/11. Jesus, George, even you gave up trying to stitch those issues together in a speech last summer. He is even trying to take credit for the Patriot Act; the single most vile piece of legislation since Lincoln suspended habeas corpus.
One chord that George did hear from the November returns was that Americans want Congress to stop dropping "earmarks" into bills just before they are about to be passed. Never mind that most of the country had never even heard of earmarks before Rep. Jeff Flake went on 60 Minutes.
You were close, George. What the people said was that they wanted an end to the cozy arrangement between lobbyists like Jack Abramoff and Republicans like Tom Delay. They would also appreciate it if Rep. Jefferson of Louisiana would keep his bribe money in an off-shore account rather than an on-shore Frigidaire.
Anyway, to hear the President tell it, all the problems are up the street under the Capital Dome. After all, Congress passes all of the laws. But wait! Doesn't the President have to sign every piece of earmark-filled legislation? If I remember those Saturday morning cartoons, that's how it works. So how about you actually read some of the dreck that you sign, George?
In closing, Mr. Bush stands opposed to Congress passing bills that are "simply political statements." Funny how that issue was never raised when the Republicans had the House and Senate. Note to George: the increase in the minimum wage is not a political statement. Federal funding for stem cell research is not a political statement. A proposed dead-on-arrival constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a women? Now that's a political statement.
Seriously folks, if this load of horse-droppings makes its way to the new Presidential Library on the Southern Methodist University campus, it will need to be transported in a hazardous material carrier. At least Nixon had the good grace to only share his ramblings with the White House portraiture.
As Mr. Bush was delivering the eulogy of Gerald Ford on Tuesday, you could almost see the spirit of the 38th President in the National Cathedral listening to this President waxing on about Ford's humility and honesty...and holding his nose.
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