End of Bush era???

Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

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End of the Bush Era

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Page A27

The Bush Era is over. The sooner politicians in both parties realize that, the better for them -- and the country.

Recent months, and especially the past two weeks, have brought home to a steadily growing majority of Americans the truth that President Bush's government doesn't work. His policies are failing, his approach to leadership is detached and self-indulgent, his way of politics has produced a divided, angry and dysfunctional public square. We dare not go on like this.

The Bush Era did not begin when he took office, or even with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It began on Sept. 14, 2001, when Bush declared at the World Trade Center site: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." Bush was, indeed, skilled in identifying enemies and rallying a nation already disposed to action. He failed to realize after Sept. 11 that it was not we who were lucky to have him as a leader, but he who was lucky to be president of a great country that understood the importance of standing together in the face of a grave foreign threat. Very nearly all of us rallied behind him.

If Bush had understood that his central task was to forge national unity, as he seemed to shortly after Sept. 11, the country would never have become so polarized. Instead, Bush put patriotism to the service of narrowly ideological policies and an extreme partisanship. He pushed for more tax cuts for his wealthiest supporters and shamelessly used relatively modest details in the bill creating a Department of Homeland Security as partisan cudgels in the 2002 elections.

He invoked our national anger over terrorism to win support for a war in Iraq. But he failed to pay heed to those who warned that the United States would need many more troops and careful planning to see the job through. The president assumed things would turn out fine, on the basis of wildly optimistic assumptions. Careful policymaking and thinking through potential flaws in your approach are not his administration's strong suits.

And so the Bush Era ended definitively on Sept. 2, the day Bush first toured the Gulf Coast States after Hurricane Katrina. There was no magic moment with a bullhorn. The utter failure of federal relief efforts had by then penetrated the country's consciousness. Yesterday's resignation of FEMA Director Michael Brown put an exclamation point on the failure.

The source of Bush's political success was his claim that he could protect Americans. Leadership, strength and security were Bush's calling cards. Over the past two weeks, they were lost in the surging waters of New Orleans.

But the first intimations of the end of the Bush Era came months ago. The president's post-election fixation on privatizing part of Social Security showed how out of touch he was. The more Bush discussed this boutique idea cooked up in conservative think tanks and Wall Street imaginations, the less the public liked it. The situation in Iraq deteriorated. The glorious economy Bush kept touting turned out not to be glorious for many Americans. The Census Bureau's annual economic report, released in the midst of the Gulf disaster, found that an additional 4.1 million Americans had slipped into poverty between 2001 and 2004.

The breaking of the Bush spell opens the way for leaders of both parties to declare their independence from the recent past. It gives forces outside the White House the opportunity to shape a more appropriate national agenda -- for competence and innovation in rebuilding the Katrina region and for new approaches to the problems created over the past 4 1/2 years.

The federal budget, already a mess before Katrina, is now a laughable document. Those who call for yet more tax cuts risk sounding like robots droning automated talking points programmed inside them long ago. Katrina has forced the issue of deep poverty back onto the national agenda after a long absence. Finding a way forward in -- and eventually out of -- Iraq will require creativity from those not implicated in the administration's mistakes. And if ever the phrase "reinventing government" had relevance, it is now that we have observed the performance of a government that allows political hacks to push aside the professionals.

And what of Bush, who has more than three years left in his term? Paradoxically, his best hope lies in recognizing that the Bush Era, as he and we have known it, really is gone. He can decide to help us in the transition to what comes next. Or he can cling stubbornly to his past and thereby doom himself to frustrating irrelevance.
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Steve French

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Jul 10, 2005
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The country will continue to be locked in regressive conservatism for decades to come thanks to all the bible thumping judges and officials the Bush cabal has managed to install in six years of forward into the past.

Personally, I think it would be hilarious if they overturned Roe/Wade and roll back all social progress to the 1920's.

Watching the Empire deconstruct from a safe distance is high entertainment if you ask me.

'May you live in interesting times' - goes the ancient Chinese proverb/curse.
 
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Reverend Blair

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Apr 3, 2004
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Watching the Empire deconstruct from a safe distance is high entertainment if you ask me.
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Given the way our leaders continue to tie us closer and closer to the US, I'm not sure we are at a safe distance at all.

Bush also has about 3 years left in office. PNAC and other neo-conservative think tanks remain very influential in the Republican Party, and there are few signs that influence is dropping. The most divisive aspects of Straussian theory...using religion and ultra-nationalism to garner support even if you have to lie...are still in evident usage.
 
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peapod

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pumpkin pie bungalow
Steve french, if you highlight the link and than click URL the link will work better. It only took me a year to finally get it :p I cannot get your link to work.
 
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Reverend Blair

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Apr 3, 2004
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Strauss?
Well, it goes back to Plato...and before that even, pre historical record. Meet the new boss same as the old boss. Hundreds of scholars have noted and described the same dynamic over the centuries..
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Modern neo-conservatism is based on the teachings of Leo Strauss. The people in charge in Washington adore this man.

Strauss was a head case though...an absolute nut-bag who thought that liberalism was going to cause civilsation to fail. His teachings are basically that the world should be run by an elite posing as elected officials and that the best way to achieve that was by using religion and ultra-patriotism to appeal to the voters.

Neo-cons will try to tell you that all Strauss taught was economic theory, but that is entirely untrue. The economic theories he taught are identical to what is called neo-liberalism around the world...it's basically corporatism and those running the corporations are the same elites that Strauss wanted to run the world.

While the dynamic is familiar throughout history, if you look at what Strauss wrote you will find that those who he taught picked up not only his economic thought, but the corporate elitism (basically fascism) that permeated his teachings.

In the US it is called the Chicago School. Here in Canada it is usually refered to as the Calgary School. No matter what you call it, these fools who follow the teachings of Leo Strauss are making a concerted effort to end any influence they deem to be "liberal".
 
Jo Canadian

Jo Canadian

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Mar 15, 2005
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PEI...for now
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

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Re: RE: End of Bush era???

Said1 said:
LOL. Isn't his term ending soon?
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Not soon enough..... :wink: but his actions /decisions will have long term consequences.


( suspect that "we ain't seen nuthing yet" )
 
Twila

Twila

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Mar 26, 2003
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I wonder what Bush is going to do/use to take the American people minds of hurricane disaster?
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

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Jun 5, 2005
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Re: RE: End of Bush era???

Twila said:
I wonder what Bush is going to do/use to take the American people minds of hurricane disaster?
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hmm. There hasn't been a serious terror threat for a while....... (seems that terrorist threats have served him well as a fall back position. :evil: sheesh......the color coding was fluctuating like crazy for a while.......and then sorta "died ".......as most things seems to do.

Maybe an OBL "sighting". That could distract the easily distracted....
 
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Vitamin C

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Sep 14, 2005
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Re: RE: End of Bush era???

Twila said:
I wonder what Bush is going to do/use to take the American people minds of hurricane disaster?
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My understanding was that in the upcoming weeks war will be declared on the Atlantic Ocean.

CNN Breaking News

Bush declares "War on Weather"
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 5, 2005
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Re: RE: End of Bush era???

Vitamin C said:
Twila said:
I wonder what Bush is going to do/use to take the American people minds of hurricane disaster?
Click to expand...

My understanding was that in the upcoming weeks war will be declared on the Atlantic Ocean.

CNN Breaking News

Bush declares "War on Weather"
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hmmm.that just" confirms" the fact that bush is psychologically impaired as in seriously DELUSIONAL. Only someone who "believes he is "god" would declare "war on weather." :wink: One just gotta take EVERYTHING he utters with a serious grain of salt... :wink:

(but wouldn't put it past him to try ..... :roll: If his war on weather doesn't fly.........he will invade someone else. Keep the chain of events going .......from one disaster to another.
 
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