Bush's presidency was, in sum, a disappointment -- editorial (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

[struggle4progress]

George W. Bush's successes were few and incomplete; the effects of his mistakes, however, are likely to persist
Sunday, January 18, 2009

... Then he squandered much of that good will by taking the United States into an ill-conceived war in Iraq. It was bad enough that weapons the war was to eliminate were never found; at least other nations, notably Great Britain, shared similar assumptions about Saddam Hussein's arsenal and intent. Far worse, Bush ignored warnings that the invasion force was too small to stabilize Iraq or to counter a likely insurgency. With bravado even he now regrets and with disregard for the Geneva Convention, he surrendered America's moral high ground. The surge crafted by Gen. David Petraeus may yet salvage Iraq, but the bloody trail of blunders there remains unforgivable.

So are the halting response to Hurricane Katrina, the degradation of the Justice Department, the disdain for other branches of government, the squandering of a budget surplus and the refusal to demand accountability from the likes of Donald Rumsfeld. Both parties contributed to Washington's toxic climate -- many Democrats never got past Bush's contested Electoral College victory in 2000 -- but it was Bush who ran as a uniter, then embraced polarization.

Bush's defenders emphasize that on his watch, America was not struck a second time by terrorists. And for that, he surely deserves great credit. But does that mean the president's detractors, as he put it last week, "misunderestimated" him?

Only time will tell. But we doubt it.

http://www.cleveland.com/editorials/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/123218465531030.xml&coll=2

[aquart]

1. I dunno. Completely met my expectations.

[struggle4progress]

5. Mine, too. But The Plain Dealer supported Mr. Turkey

[babylonsister]

2. A "disappointment" when "the effects of his mistakes, however, are likely to persist"?

What world do they live in? That's more than 'disappointing'.

[Old and In the Way]

3. If we'd been hit a 2nd time, his supporters/syncophnts would be saying-

"at least we didn't get hit a 3rd time'.

[Joe Bacon]

4. We've been hit multiple times since 9/11

and they were all self-inflicted wounds such as:

Deficits running wild
Deregulation leading to lead in toys and contaminated food
Abandonment of science
A broken military
Shoddy treatment of Veterans
Katrina
The collapse of the Middle Class
The collapse of manufacturing
Homelessness
Medical bankruptcies
Constitution and Bill of Rights trashed

Need I go on with more right wing terrorist attacks Bush triggered?

[struggle4progress]

6. Yep. A lot of that damage was inflected intentionally, too

[LibDemAlways]

7. Shortly after 9/11 the US was struck a second time

by terrorists who sent anthrax through the US mail. People died. It was no doubt an inside job, and Bush Co probably had something to do with it, but the often repeated statement that we haven't been hit since 9/11 is just plain false.

[struggle4progress]

8. The constant stream of hate crimes in the US is also a form of terrorism

but the Republicans won't count it as such either -- though they were happy to use their 9/11 laws to go after (say) Spitzer

Apparently, to determine what constitutes "terrorism" one must determine what's politically useful to the Republican party