EDITORIAL: Bush's watch (Daily Freeman)

[struggle4progress]

Sunday, January 18, 2009 3:06 AM EST

... The outgoing president leaves his nation in far, far worse shape than he found it eight tumultuous and divisive years ago ...

THERE’S NO dodging the responsibility for any of this. It wasn’t just a bad break that it happened on his watch. The American people hire a president to foresee threats, react ably to complex situations, extend aid when it is needed, and otherwise pilot the ship of state through all manner of the unforeseen. When the president fails to do these things, regardless of the circumstances, he has failed to do his job.

There is plenty of evidence that, prior to Sept. 11, 2001, Bush did not take the threat of al-Qaida as seriously as did President Bill Clinton.

Transition briefers noted indifference on the part of many incoming officials and, in the case of Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a distracted obsession with Iraq that would lead to further trouble down the road ...

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/01/18/opinion/doc496f916ba73d0316254168.txt