Ahhhh, so THAT'S what he's been up to, apparently, in recent weeks since the economy tanked?
It turns out Dubya has a "legacy team" together, because rumor has it that it needs some assistance.
Just a hunch.
What a sad joke. This team can try to churn out whatever hocus pocus crap that it wants, but the American people - and the world, for that matter - aren't stupid.
Bush's "legacy," if you even want to call it that, will be fodder thrown to the wolves...and if you beg to differ, consider this: the former Presidents that have always been the brunt of the biggest jokes, before Nixon at least (who had positive attributes, but still abused his power), have been Herbert Hoover and James Buchanan. Come on...remember your grandparents stories about "Hoovervilles" during the Great Depression? There ya are.
Bush's failures eclipses all three of the aforementioned leaders, IMO.
Nixon, from my vantage, was simply a tortured soul who thought the Presidency was untouchable. He thought he could get away with anything, and was proven wrong as he was forced to resign over Watergate. He was an extremely insecure man who generally didn't like people and was out of touch as President. He would have fared much better as a college professor.
Nevertheless, Nixon still performed some tasks that are commendable, such as ending Vietnam (after waging a secret campaign in Cambodia, of course), signing into effect environmental legislation, and his foreign relations abilities were amazing -- as evidenced by how he handled China -- and are the standard by which all who follow him are measured...and despite it all I still do an impeccable impression of him, as he's the former President that entertains me the most.
Hoover, FDR's predecessor, sat like a deer in the headlights while the Nation slid deeper into the Great Depression...he was ill-equipped to handle the crisis, and stood in a mental prison of the cowardly ideology that "it will all work itself out," as Bush has essentially done today.
The only thing I will say, in his defense, is that this President was dealing with a situation that had no precedent...yes, I intentionally typed that so I could write President and precedent in the same sentence (yuck yuck yuck).
Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln's predecessor, sat idly by without any effort to intervene while the Civil War began...and while it can be argued that he didn't start that war per se, and that the issues of slavery and the related economics had grown into a bubble about to burst, he certainly didn't help matters by either doing nothing or fanning the flames as 1861 approached and the nation unraveled -- literally -- as southern states seceded and the war began leading right up to Lincoln's inauguration.
That being said, and despite having the lessons of history at his disposal, somehow Bush has managed to channel the legacies of Buchanan, Hoover AND Nixon at the same time, and in some ways SURPASSED their failures.
My first reaction would be to think "Isn't that pretty hard to do?" Maybe not...not if you have no tendency to see yourself and your decisions in retrospect, as that obviously seems to be a trait that Bush lacks.
Nevertheless, it is what it is...the economic collapse and Bush's policies speak for themselves...and while Iraq has not been a civil war fought within our borders -- in which Americans have bloodied each other up -- thousands of Americans, and untold numbers of Iraqui civilians, have still died. George W. Bush has lots of blood on his hands.
In addition, Bush has presided over the turbulence of this first 21st century decade thus far, and only fanned the flames of the deepest divisions in the nation since the 1860s...but the gravity of the American Civil War is made up by the fact that Bush ignited the Iraq War all himself, through mass deception, with some advisement from his cronies. Sure, blame Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove too...they share it...but the buck stopped with Dubya.
Then, when he's not deceiving the planet, he spends his time thumbing his nose at everyone who disagrees with him or "dares to question him." No remorse, no willingness to listen...only arrogance...just intoxicated with power.
If that's not evil, I don't know what is.
So I rest my case. Bush's horrible legacy will be the "new low" in terms of the low bar set for Presidents of the future...and he'll be the brunt of jokes for generations to come...that's just how it works.
I don't believe he's in denial of these emerging facts, as a team designated for the task of "rewriting history" would seem to indicate...and if arrogance wasn't bad enough, he's making every effort to go out with a middle finger to the American public by selling our environment down the river to mining interests, and appointing new public officials who seemingly can't be fired...intentionally making things that much more difficult for the new Obama Administration.
So...as far as that new Bush library goes?
I can't wait to relieve myself in a few years when I visit Texas...I'll be sure to drink lots of water and have oat bran for breakfast before I stop by.
And as far as the Bush team's efforts to try to "rewrite history?"
Uh, good luck with that.
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