In a year and a day, George W. Bush will no longer be President. What will his legacy be on: 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, peace initiatives in the Middle East and elsewhere, the economy, the environment, Constitutional issues, human rights, security, etc.?
Will it improve in the next year or get worse?
Will history be more kind to him than we are?
Is there any cause to impeach him, as George McGovern called for recently? Or is it too late?
For me – well, if you’ve read this blog enough, you probably have a good idea.
The distortions that ran up to the Iraq war were revisited last fall, when former W henchman Karl Rove said the White House was opposed to having the Senate vote on the Iraq war so close to the elections, fearing it would “politicize” the process. (The Senate voted October 11, 2002.)
VIDEO.
That, of course, was utter bullsh nonsense. Google any number of articles, including this White House press conference of September 24, 2002:
THE PRESIDENT: I’m confident a lot of Democrats here in Washington, D.C. will understand that Saddam is a true threat to America. And I look forward to working with them to get a strong resolution passed.
From CNN, October 11, 2002
“Bush also must certify that action against Iraq would not hinder efforts to pursue the al Qaeda terrorist network that attacked New York and Washington last year.” As the forgotten war in Afghanistan is now getting more troops, that seems to have worked well.
I do think that people might get a little soft-headed about W as he moseys off into the sunset over Iraq if American deaths diminish, but this will be countered by rising anxiety over recessionary concerns of higher prices, higher unemployment, shrinking investments in a bear stock market, and fear of losing one’s home really sink in.
I don’t think history will see him as another Truman, as much as he has invoked his equally beleaguered predecessor.
Yes, he should be impeached – him and his little dog, too – but I know it won’t happen.
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