America must not forget Bush regime mistakes

Written by Meg Lanker

Thursday, 19 February 2009 18:23

In 2002, when the Bush Administration began talk of a military strike against Iraq, a student at Pennsylvania State University asked Bush how he slept at night. Bush replied, “Sometimes when I sleep at night I think of [Dr. Seuss’s] Hop on Pop.” I do not use this quote in order to mock former President George W. Bush. It illustrates a rather striking quality about our former president – his wide-eyed, naïve outlook. Side effect: America had a president who slept perfectly fine while contemplating a military action that would almost surely kill thousands of civilians.

The key is that he is now former President Bush. He is now president of nothing, having presided for two terms over the creation of the biggest federal deficit in history, a disastrously unplanned war with an over-stretched military and a severe tattering of international relations. However, the American people must remember that Bush alone is not responsible for this mess. Bush had an entire band of thieves in his administration that pulled the strings far more than Americans are comfortable stomaching. Bush was debatably too much of a simpleton to have masterminded such a catastrophic disaster without some sinister help.

Take Dick Cheney: He insisted that, without a doubt, Saddam Hussein had contacts with Al-Qaeda and possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, even though he knew the intelligence was faulty at best, claims Bush parroted and still insists were at least “partially true” or “based on the intelligence we had at the time.” Cheney outrageously said “the vice presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch,” a claim any 10th grade government student would study dubiously. When asked about his assessment of Iraq as a “major success” in light of two-thirds of Americans no longer supporting the war, Cheney merely replied, “So?” Side effect: America saw a president who was alternately a cowboy figurehead and whipping boy while a secretive faction of politicians and advisors ran the executive branch behind closed doors.

Americans cannot simply put the past behind them. President Barack Obama ran on hope and change, and more than half of Americans, hungry for anything but Bush, embraced Obama’s message. The Obama campaign ran a very tech-savvy, slick PR campaign that drew in droves of young voters. Don’t get me wrong – I supported Obama. But those who voted for Obama and fervently embraced his inspirational message of hope and change must continue to cast a critical eye to be sure they get the change they voted for on Election Day. Too many people feel that because Obama was elected, everything is going to be alright. Not so. The administration just hastily passed a $787 billion stimulus package, bringing the deficit to well over a trillion dollars. This is in hopes of creating a few million jobs and stopping a deflationary spiral that could plunge the US, and many other countries, into an economic depression previously unseen. There are no guarantees it will work.

The Obama administration cannot be granted a free pass for simply bringing change. Democrats must reach across the aisle to a very battered GOP base still bitterly licking its wounds. The Democrats also must think about the direction of the party – break too far left, and the possibility of the neo-conservative base retaking the legislative branch in 2010 becomes more than a slim chance. If the Democratic Party breaks too right for lefty tastes, it leaves a disengaged left base that helped elect Bush in 2004 by not voting because it didn’t matter.

To carry any weight with voters, Democrats cannot focus on social, divisive issues like abortion and must focus on the economy. On Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI met with Nancy Pelosi to tell her Catholic politicians must “work … in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.” I appreciate His Holiness taking an interest in our country. But the time and energy of our politicians would be much better spent focusing on making sure that the 17.4 percent of children living in extreme poverty are cared for and fed. This is more pro-life than intruding upon the rights of women and their bodies. Side effect: America takes care of those already here, as opposed to who might or might not be born.

The Bush regime left the remains of an inefficient rule of the rich. The Obama administration must begin to repair our economy or be soundly removed piece by piece in 2010 and 2012. It is time for liberals, Democrats, progressives, or whatever they want to call themselves to move forward, stop the Bush-bashing, and be sure the American people see lasting, enduring change. America cannot forgive and forget – after all, in 2008 Bush himself said “One of the things important about history is to remember the true history.” Side effects of not forgetting: America can move forward and ensure this tragic debacle never happens again.

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