Hail, farwell, and good riddance to George W.
George Curry/NNPA Columnist
Issue date: 2/1/09 Section: Politics
George W. Bush is gone and it's not a moment too soon. I am not the only one who feels this way. A recent CNN poll found that 75 percent of Americans - three out of every four - said they are glad Bush was leaving office.
When I started writing this column, I did so with the intention of listing Bush's top 10 failures. I could have easily named 30 reasons Bush should let the door hit him where the Good Lord split him, but in the spirit of David Letterman, I wanted a Top 10 list. I couldn't do it. It was a struggle to list only 15, considering all of his blunders, but here they are in no particular order:
1. Bush lied while campaigning for the White House, saying he was a "compassionate conservative." His record eight years later, as had been noted, is one of being compassionate toward conservatives.
2. George W. pledged to be a uniter, not a divider. The CNN poll found that 82 percent of Americans feel he had failed to unite the country, compared to only 17 percent - most of them probably relatives - who think he has.
3. Bush told the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and used that lie as the pretext for invading Iraq.
4. Bush also misled the American people about what the war would cost. He said it would be in the neighborhood of $60 billion. It's at $600 billion and counting.
5. W. told us over and over that capturing Osama bin Laden was his top priority. Bush boasted that he was wanted dead or alive. Well, judging by the recent audio tapes, the al-Qaeda leader is still alive. Osama bin Laden is still Osama Been Missing.
6. Bush refused to let a catastrophe such as Hurricane Katrina disrupt his vacation in Crawford, Texas. When he finally decided to take a peek, it was from Air Force One as it flew over the devastated area.
7. Instead of heads rolling, the president who speaks glowingly about the need to take personal responsibility spoke glowingly about the person who was asleep at the switch when Katrina struck. Bush told Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
When I started writing this column, I did so with the intention of listing Bush's top 10 failures. I could have easily named 30 reasons Bush should let the door hit him where the Good Lord split him, but in the spirit of David Letterman, I wanted a Top 10 list. I couldn't do it. It was a struggle to list only 15, considering all of his blunders, but here they are in no particular order:
1. Bush lied while campaigning for the White House, saying he was a "compassionate conservative." His record eight years later, as had been noted, is one of being compassionate toward conservatives.
2. George W. pledged to be a uniter, not a divider. The CNN poll found that 82 percent of Americans feel he had failed to unite the country, compared to only 17 percent - most of them probably relatives - who think he has.
3. Bush told the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and used that lie as the pretext for invading Iraq.
4. Bush also misled the American people about what the war would cost. He said it would be in the neighborhood of $60 billion. It's at $600 billion and counting.
5. W. told us over and over that capturing Osama bin Laden was his top priority. Bush boasted that he was wanted dead or alive. Well, judging by the recent audio tapes, the al-Qaeda leader is still alive. Osama bin Laden is still Osama Been Missing.
6. Bush refused to let a catastrophe such as Hurricane Katrina disrupt his vacation in Crawford, Texas. When he finally decided to take a peek, it was from Air Force One as it flew over the devastated area.
7. Instead of heads rolling, the president who speaks glowingly about the need to take personal responsibility spoke glowingly about the person who was asleep at the switch when Katrina struck. Bush told Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
jamie
posted 2/02/09 @ 4:13 PM EST
its really awesome that you would include number 7 while FEMA - under President Obama's watch - has failed to respond to the crisis in the Midwest 5 days after the storms have knocked out their power. (Continued…)
Vixon
posted 2/03/09 @ 5:43 AM EST
Excellent column, you hit the nail on the head, it's a pitty we only noticed these things after his reign, good riddence!
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