Will The Bush Administration Implode, And Take All Of Us With It?

Great Debates
1

OK, let’s look at the Bush Administration dinner plate.

The War on Terrorism. Everything changed on 9/11. The terrorists managed to cross the oceans. We now have a worldwide effort to eradicate the evil-doers, with Afghanistan being the prominent example. And today, the US committed Special Forces to The Philippines; not advisors but combat troops to help the Filipinos eliminate terrorists (and terrorist sympathizers?). Anyplace else?

Condition Orange – High Alert. Based partly on false information. Duct tape. Plastic wrap. Do you have your home emergency terrorist kit ready? (Shades of backyard fallout shelters?) Smallpox vaccinations. Yes? No?

The Middle East. An ongoing issue. ‘Nuff said. (And if you haven’t been paying attention the last few decades, I can’t help you.)

Iraq. The current biggest, baddest evil-doer in current gun sights of Dubya. With it comes the UN, the UN resolutions, anti-war sentiment worldwide, NATO issues, yadda, yadda. If we believe Bush at face value, a WMD ball-breaker. If we go to war, the US will remain in Iraq for years.

North Korea. A smoldering morass, or a flashpoint ready to go off? In either case, it looks like an Evil-Doer Tag Team with Iraq. If we believe Bush at face value, a WMD ball-breaker.

Koyto Treaty. Now an apparent past issue with Bush, his arrogance angered many countries, perhaps contributing to the current lack of support for a war with Iraq.

The Economy. The US had its worst full-year trade deficit in history last year. The job market is the worst in 40 years. The tax cuts (what tax cuts?) did a tremendous job of nothing for the economy. Greenspan’s latest comments did not sit well in the White House. Martha Stewart. Enron. Worldcom. Yadda, yadda. The unemployment rate, although statistically not bad (5.7 percent) but not reflecting all those no longer being counted. An energy crisis looming with oil prices climbing to near record levels, and the war hasn’t started yet.

The Budget Deficits. From this country’s strongest economic growth and budget surpluses to the largest yearly project deficit ever (FY2004). On top of this, Bush want to bring forward his tax cuts. On top of this, the greatest two-year budget increase (in excess of 20 percent) in a quarter-century, with most Departments subjected to budget cuts while Defense and Homeland Security getting the cash. Add in an accelerated A76 program (the fastest in almost 40 years) to get rid of federal employees enmass by October 1st of this year, to be replaced with contractors, which will cost the taxpayers billions more than now, with a decreased level of service.

The Environment. Raise the arsenic levels in water to help big business; to hell with the people’s health. Drilling in ANWAR to begin soon. No attempt at energy conservation. Insufficient funding for this summer’s forest fire season, on top of another drought year.

The Religious Right. Faith-based charities with tax dollars. The Pledge of Allegiance.

The MBA Team. Touted as the first President/Vice-President Dynamic Duo with MBAs. Would either make it as corporate business CEOs with their current track records operating USA, Inc.?

A Minority President. Yes Bush received more electoral votes, even though he lost in actual votes. Shouldn’t be a concern but it does reflect a deep division across America that apparently did not repair itself during the mid-term elections. Even with the Republicans in Control of Congress, Bush does not have a boot-kissing Congress or mandate.

Dick Cheney. Who? Where? What energy ties?

The Patriot Act I. John Ashcroft. Warrantless searches. Domestic spying. If you’re not with us, you’re against us.

Patriot Act II. The proposed sequel. Losing American citizenship just because you can.

Huh?

No, I don’t offer cites because (1) I can’t find all of them anymore, (2) If you’ve been keeping up with the world and the SDMB of late, much of this should be familiar to you, and (3) I asking you to consider your gut feelings to the way the world is going and may be headed.

I think we are at a crossroads, only experienced twice before in our history. (The other two are the Civil War and the very beginnings with the American Revolution.) I think most people are blind to this crossroads, if they’ve even thought of it at all.

Sure, America and its presidents have endured issues, problems and crisis upon crisis, and we’ve managed to get through all of them. (I think.) But have we had this many critical issues all occurring at once, with many so tied to each other that it could be a macabre game of a House of Cards?

I think not. I think at its worst, we are looking at a major tear in the American fabric that we would be very hard-pressed to ever repair. And with it, the possibility of the UN becoming impotent to non-existent with regional and global conflicts manifesting themselves. (Will we be the supercop on the world beat?)

On the other hand, at its best a very long and slow climb back to where life is again good, here and overseas. Not in my lifetime though.

(I have no aluminum foil in the house so I’m not wearing a tinfoil hat. It’s just that I feel we are indeed poised at the edge of an abyss.)

Will Bush be able to juggle everything and not drop the ball? I’m not sure having said all this. I just get a very bad gut feeling about all of it.

2

Well, they do say that stupid monkeys are good at juggling…

On a more serious note, we have already made it through two years of Dubya. I think as long as North Korea doesn’t go nuts we should be okay. We’ve had bad budgets. He doesn’t have any sort of Congressional mandate. Global protests have for the time being pushed Bush and Blair back to the U.N. for another resolution. I’m crossing my fingers and toes, but I think we’ll make it.

3

I’m feeling much the same way anymore, Duckster. So, how do we fix it? Can it be fixed?

Time will tell, I guess.

I will say one thing, though. If things continue this way, in 2004 I will have a new boss. Of that I have no doubt.

4

Ugh…

We should be able to survive 2 more years with him, providing he doesn’t decide to use his Texas mentality to blow half the world to hell… If he is reelected… The US of A is going down the toilet… Honestly, what has he done to save our economy? It’s almost hit rock bottom… The dow just barely closed above 8000 today… The NASDAQ has lost almost 2/3 of it’s value in 2000. It’s sick… We are screwed…

5

The OP expresses some of the concerns I have. I’ve never felt this vulnerable before and I’ve been politically active for almost forty years. If the President were just ineffectual, we could still glide for awhile. If he were a successful global leader, we wouldn’t be facing a war. If he were intelligent, he could be reasoned with. He is just a disaster! The only time that I personally felt that he was the right man at the right time was when he was encouraging the men and women working at Ground Zero.

But I think that I fault Congress even more than Bush. Why have they just handed this man and his henchmen a blank check?

Who is really running the country? Why are they so secretive when there is no reason to be – as is often the case. Who’s writing the script?

Thanks for one of the best OPs I’ve read, Duckster.

6

I think we need to take a deep breath. In my opinion Bush is an incompetent bungler who conducts national affairs as it he were engaged in a saturday night beer bust at Skull and Bones.

However, this isn’t the first tight spot we’ve been in and it might not even be the tightest. Things looked pretty black during the Civil War and Lincoln didn’t have the confidence of much of the country. And that’s just one example.

So I’m hopeful without being fatuous. At least I hope I am.

7

I sure wish that Boy Clinton had taken care of some of these issues , instead of getting his ass licked and his dick sucked on in the Oval office. That way his successor wouldn’t have so much on his plate.

8

Ah, of course, two years in and everything is still Clinton’s fault.

Well, why not? After all, he was our last real president…

9

Well, why not? After all, he was our last real president…

^ Deserved a 2nd emphasis IMHO.

10

Look, guys, stop your bellyaching. In 2000, a solid minority of the American people spoke and said they had had enough of all that peace and prosperity bullshit under Clinton, and now Bush is providing the alternative. The minority has spoken!

11

Yes!, the end is nigh a, and Bush the orchestrator of it all. If I was you guys I would move to Canada now before the Antichrist (GW) closes the border and that option. Run! :rolleyes:

12

Yes, but … :slight_smile:

We may have the potential of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those who have no qualms about taking us as well as themselves out. We have such an inter-dependent communications and economic systems the the game of Pick Up Sticks has real-life implications. As bad as Lincoln had it, he didn’t have external forces bent on eliminating the entire society as we have now.

13

Why don’t YOU go to Canada? I’m a patriotic American liberal, and I much prefer to stay here and kick conservative ass. YOU get the hell out of the country if you like, but maybe not Canada, as I like Canadians generally.

14

I am just glad to see that not all Americans are sheeple and notice many of the the same things that make us “furreners” loathe your Resident cowboy.

Hopefully, the whole world will still be in one piece in 2004 so you guys can correct this dire mistake that goes by the name of Bush.

Best of luck…to all of us.

15

In your list of crises and problems confronted by the current Administration, you forgot one important thing:

The Bush Administration’s withdrawl of the ABM treaty. This was a cornerstone of international arms control, and the U.S. withdrew from the treaty without discussing it with Russia, China, or any allies.

This, combined with the new doctrines of pre-emption and unilateralism, has worked to undermine a great deal of international credibility that we had in 2000.

Just a thought.

16

Bush has some pretty intellegent people backing him, as well as his dad who has the experience and cajones to slap him upside the head if he does something stupid. Do I have confidence in Bush, the individual, to be able to wiggle his nose and make all bad things go away? I’ve never had that confidence in anyone. I am not even sure he has the mental maturity to make every decision just right. He ain’t no Lincoln or Churchill, and I voted for the man and would do so again today. But compared to the last few admins, he has the most experienced group of people looking after him in his administration that I have even read about. My confidence in that makes me feel a hell of alot more secure than someone like Clinton on his podium sayin “Everything is alriiiiight, trust me.” with that smile and wink of his like he has done for his eight years.

There is nothing serious in your list that connot be attributed to Clinton one way or another. He was just able to play CYA well while he was in office. He knew about NK and ignored it. He knew that the Senate would never retify Kyoto or the ICC, but led the rest of the world on just to make hmself look good. Iraq was more than ignored in his second term. Hell, he told the inspectors to come home rather than have to face a sticky situation. Bin Laden has been the biggest threat to the US for almost fifteen years. The world should have changed the first time he bombed the US. Never was there more of a reason after he bombed the WTC the first time, or when he bombed those barracks in Kenya. Yet he ignored it and so did we. Mainly because he did.

Bush could play off the same leaf as clinton. Ignore Iraq and Nk. Pay the Koreans off to keep wm quiet. Give lip service to the international treaties that he knew would never work so he could pass them off to his successor.

The point is that Bush has not created any of it. Neither did Clinton. Clinton didn’t deal with it is what I am not happy about. Bush is dealing with it. He may be too straightforeward about dealing with it at times, but he has all of the experience backing him up that I rely on. Clinton, the statesman that he was, would’nt have been able to deal with it alone either.

17

LOL… only if you kick my ass first and make me, liberal. :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue:

I actually laughed out loud when I read “and I much prefer to stay here and kick conservative ass”. LMAO… got aany more? Been a bad week for me and I need the humor.

18

if only Al Gore were president. He’d put Sadam in a lockbox and that would be the end of it!

  1. Presidents don’t run the economy. They shouldn’t get the credit for good times or the blame for bad times. There are business cycles that have nothing to do with gov’t. The one exception I would give is on interest rates. Gov’ts can trash the economy be causing interst rates to skyrocket. Carter did that and Reagan fixed it. Clinton and Bush are basically coasting on that record.

  2. In case you hadn’t noticed, this country was attacked for the first time since Pearl Harbor. Don’t be surprised if the world suddenly looks different. W isn’t the smartest branch on the bush, but he’s smart enough to surround himself with extremely competent people.

Worst case, you get to vote for someone else in less than 2 yrs. And what a splendid bunch the Dems have thrown out there so far…

19

Well, things would be so much better if Gore had won.

Enron wouldn’t have turned out to be fake, right?

World.com wouldn’t have turned out to be fake, right?

The dot.coms would all still be sailing along, right?

9/11 would never have happened?

No way would we be thinking about that terribly destabilizing defense of the country against ICBMs from rogue states. They don’t have them, right?

We’d still be a hero at the U.N., having known well enough, since the inspectors were run out in '98, to not stir up the wasp nest of Iraq.

Hell, I’d bet oil wouldn’t be any more than $37a barrel.

20

Saen, it’s not that he’s trying to fix things that Clinton did wrong that worries me. And I’ll agree with you wholeheartedly that Clinton did a lot of stuff wrong.

What worries me at this point is that he’s trying to strap on the whole world at once. He’s literally trying to do too much. This with a weak economy that I’ve been persuaded won’t be fixed the way he’s going about it.

One thing at a time, done in an appropriate manner, would be acceptable. But in attempting to show how strong we are, he’s really exposing our impotence. As a person who is at the tip of that sword, it’s a bit daunting to realize that.

I, for one, do not want to bear the consequences of that. I’ll go to Iraq because I think that’s the right thing to do. I’ll go to Korea if I have to. But even though I signed up for this, I have no desire to be going off to war after war ad infinitum because our President decided to piss everyone off at once. And after reflecting for the past few days about what’s been happening, that is the only conclusion I can draw. He’s cheesed everyone off and now we get to bear the consequences.

What really sucks is that I thought the man had genuine potential early on. He seemed to have the right idea, and he seemed to me to be better than Gore. What a disappointment.

I’m rather disillusioned right now about the whole thing.