I haven't really seen that many presidents in my life. I was born just as Nixon was being disgraced, and the first president I actually remember was the ineffectual Jimmy Carter. I grew to maturity thinking that Reagan was actually a pretty good president, despite his many failings. Bush Sr's inexplicable inability to finish the job he started in Iraq upset me immensely and utterly destroyed my youthful idealism. Clinton was an adequate president who got impeached for personal reasons when there were plenty of political reasons to go after him instead. But George W Bush, in my opinion, has consistently and completely failed the American people. And here are the reasons I think this way.
1) September 11th, 2001. Intelligence agencies across the world warned us. There was enough evidence to at least look into the possibility. Yet nothing was done to stop it. Somebody fell asleep while on watch, and at least some tiny bit of the blame for that failure must splash on the executive branch.
2) The Invasion of Afghanistan. It was planned before Sep 11th, but once the terrorist attack happened, Bush stated that we were now in a war on terrorism. But we've failed to capture Osama Bin Laden, and the Taliban is moving back in while we're distracted elsewhere. If Bush's goal was to stablize Afghanistan and capture the terrorists, he's failed on both points. And American soldiers are still dying in Afghanistan.
3) The Economy. It's very odd how the whole economy has collapsed, and Bush wants to cut taxes for the people who still have money. Why not raise taxes on the people who still have money, and lower taxes on the people who are barely making it day-to-day instead? Things are getting worse, not better, and Bush has done nothing to fix the problem.
4) The Patriot Act. Under no other president have our rights been so thoroughly removed. Under only one other president have so many American citizens been unconstitutionally detained for the most trivial of reasons.
5) Iraq. We barely had a reason to go into Afghanistan. Yeah, we thought Bin Laden was there. But Afghanistan had been a cesspool of horror for years and we utterly ignored it. And then Bush uses the barest of pretenses to go into Iraq. We attacked a sovereign nation on its own soil. And why? To throw out Saddam and to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But where is Saddam? Who knows? He might be dead, he might have fled safely to Syria. He might be back with his thugs the instant we leave. As for his weapons... have we actually found any yet?
The cynic in me thinks that Bush's reasons for invading Afghanistan and Iraq were completely different than the public reasons. The idealist in me prays that I'm just being paranoid. I'm worried about the so-called "Patriot Act", and its little brother. I'm worried about the precedent Bush has set by attacking a country with no proof of wrongdoing. I think that Bush is definitely the worst President to come along in my lifetime (and I include Nixon in that), and may be the worst current world leader... if only because he has the power to destroy the world at his fingertips and is apparently willing to use it.
Has Bush actually accomplished any good during his time as President? Has he ever finished any of his stated goals? While the apparently wonderful things he's done for freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq seem to shine out as a positive example, they do seem to be welcome side-effects and not the goal of his invasion plans. Worse, they seem to be temporary side-effects that Bush has no intention of preserving. More Americans are suffering now. Schools are scrambling for money. Finding a job in my neck of the woods is near-impossible. American soldiers are dying in foreign lands where we haven't come close to achieving our goals, and we're even losing ground in Afghanistan. The threat of a terrorist attack is higher than ever because we've managed to anger nearly all the Muslim world. We have threatened both Syria and Iran.
And for what? What good has been accomplished?
I would like Bush to get defeated soundly in the next election. The only problem there, I think, is that the Democrat party is in complete shambles thanks to their spineless backing of Bush's destructive policies. I don't see them putting forth an intelligent opponent. Nor do I see the Republicans pushing anyone but Bush. The "War Euphoria" from Iraq will be long gone by election time, so unless Bush invades another country, the overwelming emotion caused by victory (even one as hollow and pointless as victory over Iraq) shouldn't be a factor. No third party stands a chance, even now. All-in-all, the future seems very dark for our nation.
I know I'm going to get slammed for this by pro-war Bush supporters who believe that Americans were justified in killing thousands of Iraqi citizens in order to protect them from the threat of being killed by their own government. I know those same people are going to pull up piles of "facts" that contradict what I've said. The truth is so foggy, though, no presented fact will convince me that the war in Iraq was justified, unless and until it's been verified by someone outside the American government who is trustworthy. I'm more on the side of those who think this is far from over than those who believe we've somehow won something by marching into Baghdad.
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