Bush made a hash of 9/11 by responding with the Iraq War, and now we sit, in a quagmire of his making. How will he screw up Katrina reconstruction? No doubt there'll be other things besides no-bid contracts with Halliburton, and suspending minimum wage rules for reconstruction firms. But what else? Expect something.
This administration hasn't touched anything yet that it hasn't managed to screw up. Frank Rich really nails W to a high mast here:
The worst storm in our history proved perfect for exposing this president because in one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of "compassionate conservatism," the lack of concern for the "underprivileged", his mother condescended to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to camouflage failure and to substitute for action.
In the end, something like Katrina tests a president's character, and Bush has come up close to zero in that department. You can't spin character: you either have it or you don't.
Still, wouldn't it be amazing if Bush could somehow rise to this occasion, and pull the country together in a genuine effort to eradicate poverty in the Gulf and everywhere else in our nation? Something that Bill Clinton would have done, for example. God, I wish Bush could, but you and I know, he can't. He just doesn't have it in him, and neither do the mediocrities he surrounds himself with.
It's unfortunate that we got landed with two of the greatest challenges in our nation's history — 9/11 and Katrina — at a time when we voted for an incompetent chimp to lead us. In the end, we have only ourselves to blame. You can't blame Michael Brown alone for screwing up FEMA — George Bush gave him the job. You can't blame Bush for screwing up 9/11 and Katrina either — we gave him the job.
Maybe he'll do it right this time. Maybe. Maybe. Hey, we can hope, can't we?
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Article comments
1 - The Fifth Dentist
Well said.
2 - marc
This ia a variation on a typical Left refrain:
It's the Leftist buzz words of all buzz words.HALLIBURTON!!
But I never see an offering of an alternitive, never.
So I'll ask, again, in your humble opinion what company, wordwide, is capable to perform what Halliburton will do in NO or Iraq?
3 - Liberal
I am deeply offended by this as it is irrationally and unfairly insulting to chimps.
4 - Liberal
"in your humble opinion what company, wordwide, is capable to perform what Halliburton will do in NO or Iraq?"
Gee, I don't know. Let's subject all of Halliburton's contracts to a fair bidding process and see. Good idea?
5 - 1Potato
I like the President and I respect the President. Calling him a chimp, or calling Clinton a white trash womanizer, etc. just shows the maturity level of the author. It also shows the hate-filled mind of the author.
Look, if you want to criticize the President, intelligently, I am willing to listen. But calling him a chimp? Because his ears are big? And what does that make Chelsea Clinton? Can't we grow up here?
As for having no character, I think the President has shown a lot of character in his life and as President. His approval ratings were around 80 percent after 9-11, and most people think he handled that rather well, at least the initial few months. Don't you think he did a good job in Afghinistan? We toppled the Taliban, chased Bin Laden out, and helped form a democratically elected constitutional government. Can't you even give him credit for that?
Why do you have to make him the bogey man? By the way, getting blowjobs while spending other people's money is not character. But still, Clinton did do some good things: Welfare reform, tried to sue tobacco companies (think he lost). Anyway, that's two things right off the bat and I hate Bill Clinton generally.
Lastly, wasn't Bill Clinton President during Hurricane Andrew? That was a total disaster and a total mess. Why not blame Clinton for that one like you do Bush for Katrina? Where was the evacuation then? Where was the PLAN? Why did FEMA let that disaster happen? Why didn't they provide money to poor whites to reinforce their trailer homes with hurricane proof roofing. Where was the COMPASSION! (mock crying)
6 - Dave Nalle
Well, that 'article' is certainly low on content and high on partisan resentment. I wonder, do you have anything useful to say, Adam?
Dave
7 - Bob A. Booey
Stop it, Adam.
You're going to give Dave Nalle a coronary.
That is all.
8 - adam
Dave, I guess you're right. Absolutely right.
I've been thinking about why I spend so much of my time excoriating Bush. What is it about us Bush-bashers that we have to keep bashing him? I guess it's really the chasm between him and the best of what America stands for.
Jeez, before 9/11 we were held in the highest regard by most of the world, and I myself held us in the highest regard. But something happened, what with the Iraq War, etc. We lost our moral authority. The world doesn't envy us anymore. Our version of democracy isn't the best anymore. Our version of capitalism (Enron crookery, overpaid CEOs, terrible health system, horrible public schools in inner cities) is assailed on all sides.
Somehow something happened that brought us down from a huge peak, and I blame Bush and his cronies for that. In some way he IS representative of us, or enough Americans think he is. If he didn't seem to be representative of us, i.e. our dark side or something, I wouldn't get so upset. But I think he does represent us -- our hubris, arrogance and so-called exceptionalism (we're very French this way); our boorish anti-intellectualism (we're very non-French this way); our greedy elite (we must have the greediest, most selfish elite outside Africa -- and I think our Ivy League universities need to take major blame for that); our insufferable piety and self-righteousness (sometimes we seem as fundamentalist as the Taliban). Bush's America and my America are so poles apart, but the fact that it's so easy to conjoin Bush and America drives me crazy, because then America becomes so much less than I want it to be.
So too often I end up just mouthing off, like in this piece, with not much substance. It's
an emotional thing. I'll try to do better next time.
9 - Shark
More IRONY fromt the Compassionate Christoid Conservatives' Side:
1Potato: "...It also shows the hate-filled mind of the author. [Adam Ash]
1Potato: ...Anyway, that's two things right off the bat and I hate Bill Clinton generally."
Jeesus; Another spud-brain from the Right with the self-awareness of an edible tuber.