We Really Must Remember The Epic Failures Of George W. Bush - Salon

[WillyT]

We really must remember the epic failures of George W. Bush
The New York Times wants us to forget how we got here. The real problem is that Barack Obama stopped reminding us
Paul Rosenberg - Salon
9/19/14

<snip>

Frank Bruni is mad. The New York Times columnist thinks it’s high time that Obama’s defenders stopped blaming George W. Bush for all the problems in the world. Sure, Bush made a mess of things, but that was like six or seven whole years ago. “Whenever Barack Obama seems in danger of falling, do we have to hear that George W. Bush made the cliff?” Bruni complains. And to be honest, he’s sort of got a point—though not the one he thinks.

Here’s how Bruni puts it:

It happened with the economy. For the president’s staunchest defenders, legitimate questions about whether the stimulus was wisely crafted and whether Obamacare was rushed took a back seat to lamentations over the damage that his predecessor had done. Obama wasn’t perfect, but at least he wasn’t Bush.

But the real problem here was not that Obama supporters attacked Bush. It was that Obama himself did not.

The stimulus was poorly crafted—more than a third of it was composed of tax cuts (the ill-considered be-all and end-all of Bush’s earlier $170 billion stimulus program), which delivered far less bang-for-the-buck than additional spending would—and a prime reason for that was Obama’s desire to partner with Republicans, rather than blaming them for the disaster he’d inherited from Bush. A fat lot of good that did him: he got zero votes from House Republicans in return.

An even worse problem was that the stimulus was too small—about half the size that it needed to be, as Paul Krugman noted at the time. But Obama was not about to blast Republicans like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe for demanding that the slightly larger Democratic House-passed package be scaled back. He praised them for their bipartisanship! And why not? Even as the economy was worsening week by week before he took office, Obama was preoccupied with plans for a “fiscal responsibility summit” to strike a “grand bargain,” cutting Medicare and Social Security in return for modest tax increases—something totally at odds with how he had run for office. There were multiple signals from the very start that Republicans weren’t going to cooperate on anything—but still Obama refused to place blame where it unmistakably belonged.

When it comes to Obamacare, Bruni’s sense of the problems involved is even farther off the mark. Obamacare wasn’t rushed, it was nearly stalled to death by bad-faith Republican negotiations in the Senate. Obamacare’s origins trace back to the Heritage Foundation, including the individual mandate. It was modeled more specifically on RomneyCare. The bill itself included hundreds of GOP proposals, and Obama bailed on the key Democratic proposal, the public option, falsely claiming he’d never campaigned on it. There was absolutely nothing of a partisan rush job about it.

Nothing about healthcare reform had much of anything to do with Bush, of course. But that’s no reason to let Bruni’s myths go unrefuted. More to the point, it underscores the broader problem with Obama: he repeatedly bends over backwards searching for “common ground” with Republicans, only to get the rug pulled out from under him. One again, it’s not that Obama’s supporters criticize Republicans too much—it’s that Obama himself criticizes them far too little.

<snip>

More: http://www.salon.com/2014/09/19/we_really_must_remember_the_epic_failures_of_george_w_bush/

[Raster]

1. Bruni can go screw himself. America will feel the regurgitations of cheney*/bush* for decades.

[yeoman6987]

2. This has been going on for centuries

The next President will blame President Obama for all the countries woes. Why is anyone shocked by President Obama continuing the tradition? It is the same at companies. Every time someone left, the blame was on them for about 2 months.....humans are very much designed to do this. I think it has something to do with our makeup.

[rhett o rick]

4. "The next President will blame President Obama for all the countries woes."

Are you conceding the election to the Repubs?

"I think it has something to do with our makeup." For the record I don't wear makeup. Except a little rouge to bring out my cheek bones.

[yeoman6987]

9. No but Hillary has begun already. Keep up!

[rhett o rick]

12. I am not surprised but have yet to see it. Do you have an example? nm

[yeoman6987]

13. She complained about his foreign policy

Probably about six-weeks ago. A lot of us were kinda ticked.

[rhett o rick]

21. Yes I remember and in fact just read an article in The Nation Mag, "Don't Do Stupid Stuff".

She is a hawk for sure. Thanks.

[madinmaryland]

7. I don't remember anyone blAming Clinton for

the "mess" he left behind.

[yeoman6987]

10. Lol. You forgot the sarc tag

[thucythucy]

20. I remember the headline

in the Nation, I think, when Bush was inaugurated:

"Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is over."

Truer words were never...

[madinmaryland]

23. Exactly.

[rhett o rick]

22. REally?? Monica was clearly upset about her dress.

Sorry, but you asked for that.

[madinmaryland]

24. No. We were tired of the repukes obsession with

Clinton's dick. The only mess Clinton left was on Monica's dress. Sorry, but you went there. 😄😄

[rhett o rick]

30. I wasn't sure that you were being serious. President Clinton left us with a few problems.

We all know what they are and to say there he didn't is trying to rewrite history. Of course the Bush Admin was many times worse but that doesn't excuse him for his problems.

[madinmaryland]

37. Well, yes there were a few things...

DOMA, "Don't ask, don't tell", NAFTA, and the repeal of Glass-Steagal.

All of these were exacerbated and abused by the following "mis-"administration.

[Kingofalldems]

34. Bush surrogates blamed Clinton for 911.

[madinmaryland]

38. Even though the Bush surrogates and the entire Bush Mis-administration ignored multiple warnings,

including the PDB of August 6th, 2001 that bin Laden was determined to attack the US and the way he planned on carrying out that attack.

[Kingofalldems]

27. I see what you are up to.

[zappaman]

31. +1 n/t

[Kingofalldems]

33. When did Obama blame Bush for all the countries woes?

Ans: Never

Looks like you just made it up.

[Louisiana1976]

3. Excellent point. It'll be years before we're rid of Cheney/Bush's bad effects.

[rhett o rick]

5. Thanks WillyT. Great article. nm

[WillyT]

25. You Are Quite Welcome !!!

[librechik]

6. well said! n/t

[Octafish]

8. It'd be easy if he were prosecuted for the criminal ones.

The other failures are for being a crap artist.

[woo me with science]

11. Must. Look. Forward!

[hifiguy]

14. Kick. Chimpoleon/Darth's disastrous rule of error

cannot be mentioned enough.

[Enthusiast]

16. +1

The Maladministration.

The administration that proved we can never again trust Republicans with the reins of government.

[Enthusiast]

15. Kicked and recommended!

Thank you, WillyT.

[zappaman]

17. Kick and Rec! n/t

[MissDeeds]

18. I will never forget the epic failures of GWB

Nor will I forget those who allowed them to happen and did nothing.

K&R

[Uncle Joe]

19. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, WillyT.

[WillyT]

26. Anytime... Uncle Joe, Anytime...

[Uncle Joe]

35. ...

[Maedhros]

28. Yes, indeed, Keep focusing on what Bush did over six years ago.

Pay no attention to what's happening now.

[tularetom]

29. IMO Obama thought they'd let him in the club if he sorta winked at all their fuckups

But they didn't.

Not only didn't but they began trashing him for presuming that he might be able to join their club.

It's been six years and he hasn't learned that yet. My guess is he never will.

[kentuck]

36. The lies and deceptions...

should not be rewarded.