GW Bush’s Last Tango

Seldom has the US been so eager to experience the departure of a president than that of GW Bush. He exits with two wars unfinished; an economy that is in ruin, with soaring unemployment; an international reputation trashed by unrepentant torture of captives; and a war on terror sapped by his bloody material and moral support of Israeli atrocities.

His main accomplishment claim stems from shame when he failed to intercept or prevent the 9/11 attacks. He is proud of the fact he prevented a second attack. So that is fine. Had he prevented the first instead of acting incompetently, there never could have been a second one. The Ghost of Gobbles must write his propaganda.

Most administrations have enough skill and cleverness to manage an exit from power, deferring untoward events until at least the first few months of the next administration. You remember President Bill Clinton deferred his magic bubble of the Dot Com explosion that temporarily stopped GW Bush in his tracks.

Inept GW Bush has left the US cratered with his failures with repercussions that the Obama administration has to confront immediately. GW Bush is escaping the consequences of his conduct under fire, under the rockets red glare. There is a creepy, almost loathsome quality as he and VEEP Cheney hit the TV talk shows in the final moments of their regime to try to revise history of their bungled rule. It is the last gasp of a lost administration – a pathetic spastic lurch for sympathy for failure.

Perhaps one of the permanent consequences of his administration is that it destroyed the Republican Party that stood for small government, strong local rule, private enterprise, fiscal sanity, and the importance of the individual over the collective. Whether you subscribe to these values or not, it was important that this philosophical choice remain viable. That the Republican Party became the party of state capitalism is more than even Vladmir Lenin had ever expected. As Obama becomes trapped by Bush's deep economic failures, he instinctively will turn more to state-sponsored socialist solutions.

Socialist countries seem to work where the populations are homogeneous; for example, in Scandinavia. USA is not homogeneous by a long shot. People are split sharply by income, race, nationality and religion; and the fissures run deep – Obama or no Obama. To reverse this socialist trend, once embedded, is almost impossible as FDR's legacy demonstrates. Obama will contribute to this acceleration, but foolish GW Bush was the game changer; he ironically used the traditional greed of the Republican Party as his instrument. Smarter Republican presidents at least regulated this greed and put money on the streets.

One has to give GW Bush credit for one thing. This week the NY TIMES reported that he refused to green-light the Israeli bombing of Iran with US support. Israel wanted bunker-busting bombs and over-flight permission across Iraq to bomb suspected Iranian nuclear sights. Bet the Pentagon vetoed the request. It understood that Iranian retaliation would have turned Iraq into battlefield Marne.

The most disgusting Parthian shot by GW Bush is the US role in the massacre of civilians in Gaza. As with the Israelis he believes one can conquer people who have nothing to lose. You can slaughter them, but not conquer them... Israeli atrocities in Gaza are conducted with US weapons, bullets and diplomatic support. Bush wants the people of Gaza to stop importing arms as a condition of a ceasefire while he continues to supply Israel without restraint.

Thus far after over two weeks of war, the Israelis have failed to stop Hamas rocket fire or drive into the heart of Gaza. Their urban warfare will turn Gaza into a Stalingrad graveyard.

The US and Israel are taking a public opinion beating over the events in Gaza as the world broadcasts film from Arab Al Jezzera; democratic Israeli prohibits foreign journalists to enter Gaza, so they dutifully report Israeli propaganda handouts that US news networks gleefully pass on uncritically. American Jewish TV media personalities slant the news further; just watch CNN Blitzer and Kurtz... MNBC Shuster and Gregory... FOX NEWS Kristol and Krauthammer... Their Zionist rallying cry is apparent – UNITY

At this writing over 900 Palestinians have been killed; 3000 wounded. Most of these are non-combatants including hundreds of children. Israelis claim they are destroying Hamas and the world will thank them for this in the end. This self-serving bleat sounds similar to the Nazi propaganda when Hitler was exterminating Jews in WWII.

What was NYC Mayor Bloomberg's rush to Israel on the news of their invasion into Gaza all about? This is unsettling. Does this mean it is okay for the mayor of Los Angeles to rush to Mexico if the country goes to War or the mayor of Miami to Havana under similar circumstances?

One of the most interesting recent exchanges occurred on CNN between Arab-advocate Zogby and Jewish promotor Dershowitz, also a famous defense attorney. As the exchange ended, Zogby told Dershowitz that he was good at defending guilty people.

Recently GW Bush has proclaimed himself a Type A personality. In my opinion this characterization diminishes this classification as it normally describes an accomplished person with a combination of fierce drive and brains. About the only drive the president exhibits is on his mountain bike. As for brains, the US would not be in its current pickle had he had any. Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret