"Among the many dispiriting things to come out of Bob Woodward’s quartet of books on George W. Bush is his observation that the president has not changed since he first started talking to Woodward in 2001.
No growth. No evolution. No regrets.
“History,” Bush replied, when asked by Woodward how he would be judged over time. “We don’t know. We’ll all be dead.” Broke, as well.
It would have been nice to let Bush’s two terms marinate a while before invoking Herbert Hoover and James Buchanan from the cellar of worst presidents. But then — over the last two weeks — he completed the trilogy of national disasters that will be with us for a generation or more.
George Bush entered the White House as a proponent of a more humble foreign policy and a believer that government should get out of the way at home. He leaves as someone with a trillion-dollar war aimed at making people who’ve hated each other for a thousand years become Rotary Club freedom-lovers, and his own country close to bankruptcy after government did get out of the way."
The rest of this Opinion piece in the NY Times doesn't get any better as Timothy Egan recounts the many disasters which have encompassed the Bush presidency. Read the piece, in full, here.
Meanwhile, also in the NY Times and the IHT, op-ed writer Roger Cohen under the headline "Nixon, Bush, Palin" writes:
"In 1970, in the midst of the longest bear market since World War II, President Nixon declared: "Frankly, if I had any money, I'd be buying stocks right now."
The market soared.
Now, I've been asking myself, for the heck of it, what would happen if President Bush tried his own jawboning of the market and said: "Frankly, if I had any money, I'd be buying stocks right now."
My conclusion is: Mr. President, please, please, whatever your next whim, do not say that! I reckon the market could tank in ways that would make this week's 777 point one-day plunge look paltry."
No growth. No evolution. No regrets.
“History,” Bush replied, when asked by Woodward how he would be judged over time. “We don’t know. We’ll all be dead.” Broke, as well.
It would have been nice to let Bush’s two terms marinate a while before invoking Herbert Hoover and James Buchanan from the cellar of worst presidents. But then — over the last two weeks — he completed the trilogy of national disasters that will be with us for a generation or more.
George Bush entered the White House as a proponent of a more humble foreign policy and a believer that government should get out of the way at home. He leaves as someone with a trillion-dollar war aimed at making people who’ve hated each other for a thousand years become Rotary Club freedom-lovers, and his own country close to bankruptcy after government did get out of the way."
The rest of this Opinion piece in the NY Times doesn't get any better as Timothy Egan recounts the many disasters which have encompassed the Bush presidency. Read the piece, in full, here.
Meanwhile, also in the NY Times and the IHT, op-ed writer Roger Cohen under the headline "Nixon, Bush, Palin" writes:
"In 1970, in the midst of the longest bear market since World War II, President Nixon declared: "Frankly, if I had any money, I'd be buying stocks right now."
The market soared.
Now, I've been asking myself, for the heck of it, what would happen if President Bush tried his own jawboning of the market and said: "Frankly, if I had any money, I'd be buying stocks right now."
My conclusion is: Mr. President, please, please, whatever your next whim, do not say that! I reckon the market could tank in ways that would make this week's 777 point one-day plunge look paltry."
Comments