Delusions of Grandeur...

Yesterday, President Bush declared “One day people will look back at this moment in history and say ‘Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve, because they laid the foundations for peace for generations to come.’”

While it is certainly true that our soldiers have acted courageously, even against all reason, given the condition of the Middle East for the last 4000 years, it is insanely optimistic to declare that any sort of foundation for generations of peace has been laid.

But unrealistic expectations are what we’ve come to expect from this worst of all possible presidents. The only foundation he has laid has been a foundation of wealth for, as he put it while running for his first term, the “haves and the have-mores.”

While it is true that deaths have declined during his much-vaunted “surge”, it is also true that a lot of the reduction can be attributed to the seven month old cease-fire declared by Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi army. This cease-fire, by the way, is in trouble and may not last much longer.

Fortunately for Bush, he has a fall-back position... after all, by his (and McCain’s) double-sided reasoning it makes no sense to leave Iraq when things are bad, and it makes no sense to leave Iraq when things are “good”.

So when he pops his October surprise, I guess we should sit by complacently and let him declare martial law and suspend the elections, because you know, it makes no sense to change when things are bad...

At the risk of beating a dead horse, again, here is the bottom line on the Bush presidency: America is weaker by military and economic standards, more hated in the world, and no more safe, than when he began his reign of error. The Constitution has been weakened, with the result that Americans are less free and more threatened by their government. The average price of gasoline has gone from around $1.73 to $3.09, and there is no credible push to make alternative energy sources economically viable. The middle class continues to shrink while the “have-mores” wallow in even more. Iraq is, in fact, worse off than under Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army is nowhere near able to take charge of its own country. One reason given for the decline in Iraqi deaths is that so many millions have left their home country that there is “no one left to kill.” Bush’s actions have given power and legitimacy to Iran, made the Chinese look like good guys in South America, and have left the Middle East even less stable than it has historically been.

Yet, he has the audacity to claim “the foundations for peace for generations to come”.

01/20/01... Never Forget!