Worst is Not Bad Enough
The Washington Post has not 1 but 2 articles regarding the fact that Bush will, without a doubt, be regarded as either one of the worst or the very worst US President in history. Read here and here. This quote from the first one by Eric Foner, the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University pretty much sums it up:
Historians are loath to predict the future. It is impossible to say with certainty how Bush will be ranked in, say, 2050. But somehow, in his first six years in office he has managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors. I think there is no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history.
Worst President in US History (or, as I will henceforth refer to him: WPIUSH) will have to do for now, until we can come up with something that fully captures the awfulness of the man, his lack of accomplishments, and the depths to which he’s dragged the US (and the World).
Rolling Stone ran a cover story on this subject some time ago. I’m sure we’ll see plenty more before the end of his term.
On the bright side, at least WPIUSH can be a ‘Uniter, not a Divider’ on one thing before he leaves office!
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Jonathon Narvey — December 14, 2006 @ 11:26 pm
I think Bush has been a disaster. The only problem is, I get the sense that many people take a perverse pleasure in his every failure, not quite realizing that America’s tragedy is also the world’s. Bush’s mistakes aren’t anything to gloat about, since America’s enemies are not so quick to distinguish between the US and other Western countries, let alone Bush and the divided American population.
ddrucker — December 15, 2006 @ 12:09 pm
The gloating (and there is plenty of it) may be partly a backlash against those who demonized (and continue to demonize) the Left in the US. To be against Bush and/or the war in Iraq was to be against the troops and a traitor to the country. The pleasure that so many take in seeing the Republicans’ slow-motion fall is partly a sense that there is some justice, albeit too late to save the thousands who have died already. However, Fox News and commentators like Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter continue to equate the left with evil, and as long as they make a healthy living doing this, the bad feelings on both sides will continue.
For me, I only know that the damage that the current occupant of the White House did to my former home and its standing in the world is greater than anything in my memory, and I suspect that he will rank up there with The Great Depression as one of the worst disasters ever to hit the country. That, in the end, may be the most appropriate accounting of his status in history. While I will dance in the street the day he leaves office, my glee won’t last long. The damage will be permanent.
As for the real enemies of the US not being able to distinguish between Bush and the country as a whole, it reminds me of how Americans had problems distinguishing the Soviet Union’s leaders from the citizens of that country. I sometimes wonder if foreign press say the same ‘…but when you speak to the average person on the street…’ speech about how the people aren’t as horrible as their leaders. One can only hope.
Loud Murmurs » New Taxes for Expatriots — December 19, 2006 @ 12:20 pm
[...] It seems that WPIUSH (see my previous post for explanation of this acronym)and the previous Congress hasve decided to sock it to expats like Pam and me, by taxing income that we earn here in Canada. Yes, you read that right. For US citizens living abroad, they are seeing a substantial rise in their taxes on income earned outside the US, leading a few (and more in time, I expect) to renounce their US citizenship. [...]
Loud Murmurs » Good Meal, Weak Greenback — September 23, 2007 @ 6:48 pm
[...] getting used to. The only thing I can add is that it just looks like another failure that Bush, or WPIUSH can claim. There is nothing this man touches that does not end up being lost, be it currency value [...]
Loud Murmurs » 400 Days and some Saint Saëns — December 16, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
[...] of today, George W. Bush, or WPIUSH, as I often refer to him, has just 400 days more in office. Now, that’s something to look [...]
Loud Murmurs » What Americans Know About Canada — January 6, 2008 @ 7:21 pm
[...] fleeing north to join us if Mike Huckabee, a man who might be just as uninformed as George W. WPIUSH, becomes [...]