Bernie HornThere are probably a hundred examples where Bush conservatism failed; here are the top 10.
George W. Bush presented his valedictory last night, desperately seeking thanks and congratulations. So here goes: Thanks and congratulations, W, for showing the world that today's conservatism is an abject failure.
Thanks to Bush, we know that conservatives are not fiscally responsible, they are not for small government, they don't stand up for moral values and they won't make Americans one bit safer. Conservatives aren't even true defenders of "free markets" -- having presided over the biggest market bailout in the world.
After eight long years, Bush can no longer fool the public. Polls show that he is the most unpopular president in the history of survey research. When the 2006 and 2008 elections are considered together, Bush policies resulted in the landslide rejection of his party at both the federal and state levels. There are probably a hundred examples where Bush conservatism failed, but let's stick with the top 10.
1. The worst recession since the 1930s. The current recession will be the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression. And unlike other recessions, this one was directly caused by conservative anti-regulatory policy. In fact, recent evaluations show that Bush policies never created any real growth -- the ephemeral financial upswings of the past eight years were based on market bubbles and economic Band-Aids.
2. The worst financial crisis since the 1930s. The Bush administration, flacking an "ownership society," helped manufacture the housing bubble. When it burst, Americans lost $6 trillion in housing wealth (so far), fueling a market crash that has cost Americans $8 trillion of stock wealth, according to economist Dean Baker. On a grand scale, we've been mugged.
3. The worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country. That's what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., correctly called the Iraq war. This pre-emptive war -- based on phony pretenses -- is now the second longest in our nation's history (after Vietnam). Some 35,000 Americans are dead or wounded, as well as an enormous number of innocent Iraqis. And even today, more than five years later, can anyone explain why Bush marched us into this quagmire?
4. Unprecedented rejection of human rights. Recently, a Bush administration official finally admitted that the U.S. government engaged in torture at Guantanamo Bay detention center. Bush admitted that he personally authorized waterboarding. While these clear violations of the Geneva Conventions would have been unthinkable a few years ago, today we're not surprised. From Abu Ghraib and extraordinary rendition, to years-long detention of innocents and the unrestrained killing of civilians by U.S.-paid mercenaries, this administration has systematically squandered our nation's moral standing in the world, making us less able to protect Americans and American interests worldwide.
5. Watergate-style abuses of power. As the House Judiciary Committee staff has documented, Bush used the politics of fear and division to justify warrantless wiretapping of innocent Americans (including U.S.soldiers fighting overseas), spying on peaceful domestic groups and the use of national security letters to pry into the private records of millions of Americans. He also presided over illegal politicization of the Justice Department and retribution against critics. In fact, Bush claimed the authority to disobey hundreds of laws -- as if Richard Nixon were right when he famously said: "When the president does it, that means it's not illegal."
6. Unprecedented increases in inequality. The Economic Policy Institute reports, "For the first time since the Census Bureau began tracking such data back in the mid-1940s, the real incomes of middle-class families are lower at the end of this business cycle than they were when it started." That's because Bush policy was designed to increase economic inequality. The richest 1 percent of the population received 36 percent of the Bush tax cuts; the least-affluent 40 percent received only 9 percent. While the rich got exponentially richer, the poverty rate and the percentage of uninsured dramatically increased.
7. A culture of sleaze. This was an administration without shame. Kicked off by Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy task force, the administration fostered a "greed is good" culture. The subsequent conservative money scandals (Jack Abramoff; White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian; Republicans Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Rep. Duke Cunningham of California and Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska) and other lawlessness (Cheney's Chief of Staff O. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho) have toppled the conservative "moral values" façade into the gutter, where it belongs.
8. Blind rejection of science. The Bush administration thumbed its nose at scientific evidence that contradicted conservative political goals. The resulting lies about global warming, endangered species, toxic chemicals and consumer products threaten the health and safety of every American. And the virtual outlawing of stem cell research has delayed important medical advances by years, causing immeasurable suffering and loss of life.
9. Utter refusal to protect the health, safety and legal rights of Americans. Following the conservative business-is-always-right philosophy, Bush dismantled the agencies and rules designed to protect consumers from unscrupulous businesses, workers from reckless employers and small companies from anti-competitive large companies. If conservatives didn't like a federal law, they blocked, hindered or defunded agency enforcement.
10. Presiding over our nation's worst natural disaster, and not caring. Hurricane Katrina was transformed from a calamity into a national disgrace by the sheer incompetence and indifference of the Bush administration. Before the hurricane struck, Bush had downsized the Federal Emergency Management Agency and placed in charge a political crony with no relevant experience. When Katrina ripped through Mississippi and Louisiana and inflicted nearly $100 billion in damages in New Orleans to become the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, FEMA was unprepared to help, and thousands of Americans suffered the consequences. More than three years later, New Orleans still has not recovered.
So, congratulations for being the worst president in American history. That's not just my personal opinion; that's the opinion of 109 historians polled by the History News Network. Fully 61 percent ranked Bush as the "worst ever;" 98 percent labeled his presidency a "failure." And this poll, taken in early 2008, predated the cataclysmic housing and banking crashes. Bye-bye W -- history will not be kind.
Statement of Campaign for America's Future Robert Borosage on the Bush Legacy
Statement of Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for American’s Future
George W. Bush is likely to be remembered only for his failures – for demonstrating, in no uncertain terms, the failure of modern conservatism. Handed all the reins of power – the White House, Congress, and to a large extent, the Supreme Court – conservative rule proved catastrophic.
George W. Bush embraced the bellicose unilateralism of the neo-conservatives, and undermined U.S. security in the worst foreign policy debacle since Vietnam – the war of choice in Iraq. Bush and Cheney scorned the Constitution to tout the “unitary executive,” and shredded the moral reputation of the US across the world in the torture committed at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the CIA’s secret prisons.
Bush touted the supply doctrine of tax cuts uber alles, and created only greater debt, Gilded Age inequality and slow growth with stagnant wages. He championed the corporate “free trade” doctrines, and left the U.S. the world’s largest debtor, while American manufacturers suffered a decade-long recession. He celebrated deregulation and privatization, and watched as an unregulated banking system blew up the global economy with its speculative follies.
And now, at the end of this era of misrule, the costs are clear.
1. An economy in tatters, in the midst of the worst recession and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
2. $3 trillion squandered on the war in Iraq, which is now the second longest in American history (behind Vietnam), leaving more than 4,200 Americans dead, 30,000 wounded, and a military stretched to its limit.
3. Abuses of power that make Watergate look like a high school prank, including warrantless wiretapping, the politicization of the Justice Department, retribution against critics, and secret assertions of executive authority.
4. Unprecedented scorn for international law and human rights – every day we learn more about the torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and the extraordinary rendition of individuals to countries that torture.
5. Rejection of science in the name of politics, misleading the public about global warming, endangered species, toxic chemicals, and consumer safety.
6. Refusal to protect Americans’ health, welfare, safety and legal rights by defunding or underfunding agencies charged with enforcing rules vital to keeping corporations accountable
7. A criminally slow response to Hurricane Katrina, our nation’s worst natural catastrophe in generations.
8. Gilded Age inequality, a declining middle class, and rising poverty – even when the economy was growing.
President Bush argues it is premature to judge his presidency. But history provides context, not whitewash. Inescapably, the presidency of George W. Bush – and the conservative policies that he pursued – will be ranked among the most calamitous in American history.
The Campaign for America's Future (CAF) is a center of progressive strategy, organizing and issue campaigns. CAF anchors a progressive leadership network, enlisting leaders at the national, state and local levels to build a more just and democratic society. The Campaign is leading the fight about America's priorities - against privatization of Social Security, for investment in energy independence, good jobs and a sustainable economy, for affordable health care and more.
Copyright 2009 Campaign for America's Future
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