I’m trying to end my "Bush Period." I’m resentful about how much of my own time this misbegotten Administration has taken from my own life. I’ve been used to scanning the paper in the morning and watching the nightly news. But these guys are always on my mind. It shouldn’t be that way. But that aside, I was thinking what parts of this last eight year am I going to be haunted by.
On the top of my list is [as it always has been] the re-election of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney in 2004. That was inexcusable and speaks poorly of the American people. There’s that old saying [that Bush couldn’t say right], "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." On a bunch of grounds, it shouldn’t have happened. They were in a rigid mindset that needed to be re-evaluated in every dimension, something they could not do. It was collective madness to let them keep doing what they were doing. That re-election was an indelible mark on our record. We can’t change the past, but I can, by God, complain about it forever [and will]. I occasionally hope that they tampered with the Ohio vote and that we find out about it. It wouldn’t change our reality, but it might help me forgive the electorate. By 2004, the men and women on the street should’ve known better.
The second haunting problem for me is the degradation of the American Media. I don’t believe that there’s anything like the "Liberal Bias" in the Media that has been claimed, but even if it’s true, we could’ve done something about that instead of adding the likes of Fox News and Talk Radio. They used their charge of Liberal Bias in the Media to justify an alternative that was ONLY a biased media. The result has been a dumbing down of American political dialog. Americans should’ve known better. The only thing that will get me over this complaint is that the Right-Wing hate Media becomes obsolete [unlikely].
The third part goes with the first. I’ve lived as if our Constitution is something like what religious people feel about the Bible, or the Torah, or Qur’an. I had no illusion that it was divinely inspired. It’s a document written by specific men with a lot of struggling. All the better, I’ve alway thought. It meant to me that mere mortals could do a good job if they put their minds to it. To see it cast aside was disillusioning to me. I didn’t really know that could happen. I don’t so much mind that we’ve fallen in the eyes of the world. We’ve had "the big head" and a dose of humility will do us good. But for our Constitution to be so fragile will haunt me.
Finally, I’ll never get over the feeling that this financial crisis did not have to happen. It was caused by people who went out of their way to facilitate it. The same old saying applies ["Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."]. We did this once when our economy was young and the Industrial Revolution was in its prime. We learned our lesson, or should have, and paid for it with a ton of suffering. We even put things in place to prevent a recurrence. And the same Party that got us there last time went out of its way to remove our safeguards and let it happen again. That’s a crime, and no matter how it comes out, it just didn’t have to happen.
Hello and thanks for the thoughts. It is quite staggering to think about how backward we have come over the last eight years. Whether it be the disrespect for the Constitution or the further erosion of thoughtful debate in the mainstream media, it is clear that this country has quite a deep hole which will be impossible to dig ourself out of in just four years.
I think that what Obama must do, in order to move forward in a productive manner, is set this country back on the correct path. This means doing things like declaring a recommittment to the rule of law. The idea that “no one is above the law” is important and that means holding those who have broke the law, accountable for their actions. This includes investigating and prosecuting members of the previous administration for their crimes. A recommittment to the rule of law also means denouncing torture and respecting human rights.
The problems that need to be corrected are too many to be mentioned here, but one thing is for certain, it is going to take quite a while to begin to repair the damage of the last eight years.
“This means doing things like declaring a recomittment to the rule of law.” I agree, though I think his public statements are being misinterpreted. People think he is saying, forget the past. I think what he’s saying is that he needs to move forward. He’s appointed an AG who is anti-Torture. He’s appointed a woman to the OLC who is rabid about the Yoo Memos. I don’t think he’ll stop what they or Congress do about the Bush years. His point is that he needs to get us pointed forward.
It’s only with the Bush Administration that we’ve thought of what the DoJ does or what Congress does as controlled by the President. Part of the “Rule of Law” is the separation of powers. I fully believe he will respect that. Unlike his predecessors, he seems to believe in the wisdom of our system instead of seeing it as something to manipulate or control. The way to re-establish the “rule of law” is to leave “the law” in the hands of an independent justice department. He’s said he will do that, and I believe him…