Bush is about to waste a second crisis

[DogPoundPup]

by Thomas Friedman

I am reliably told by a Bush administration official that there is an old saying in Texas that goes like this: "If all you ever do is all you've ever done, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Could anyone possibly come up with a better description of President Bush's energy policy? America is in the midst of its worst energy crisis in years and what is the big decision our Decider has decided? Drum roll, please: Our Decider decided to lift the executive orders banning drilling for oil and natural gas off the country's shoreline -- even though he knew this was a meaningless gesture because a congressional moratorium on drilling passed in 1981 remains in force.

The economist Paul Romer once said to me that "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste." President Bush is well on his way to being remembered as the leader who wasted not one but two crises: 9/11 and 4/11. The average price of gasoline in the U.S. last week, according to the Energy Information Administration, was $4.11.
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080722/OPINION/807220328&title=FRIEDMAN__Bush_is_about_to_waste_a_second_crisis

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. I have another way of saying it. A history of failure will simply endure. Everything Bush has ever

done has failed. Is it no wonder that his presidency has been a constant litany of failure. And, once he leaves office, the rest of his life will be a failure. Why does the media and his supporters think that any other outcome is even possible? Just boggles the mind....

[Hestia]

2. I'm taking the phrase to mean that this is perfect opportunity to do

a Shock Doctrine on us - scare us to death with high prices so we'll fall for anything that the neo-cons can come up, which is do to us not unlike the Southern Cone of the 1970s & 1980s. They even have their own torturers like in Chile.