For the last two years, the bumper of my car read, “Practice Abstinence: No Dick, No Bush in ’04.” One trip through any Eugene parking lot and you can hardly walk without tripping over a car that has an, “American Errorist” or “Republicans for Voldemort” sticker affixed. These slogans had always comforted me to some degree. It’s calming to know that you’re not the only one who is horrified by the Republican government. And certainly, lampooning the President has its place. The Daily Show is still one of the best news sources in the country. But it’s too easy to dismiss this President as stupid or evil.
During the 2004 Presidential campaign, when it appeared that President Bush was only going to be a horrific one-term scar in history, it was almost in vogue to voice your disdain with a witty bumper sticker. But then the unthinkable happened: He got re-elected.
Since then, Americans have endured the most incompetent two years of leadership in our nation’s history. First, Bush continued to pull troops out of Afghanistan to focus on mismanaging his war of choice in Iraq. This week the British Journal of Medicine released a report that totals the Iraqi civilian death count at 655,000. That’s 2.5% of their entire population.
They continued pushing through tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class. Then came Katrina, which the President clearly could not have cared less about. Remember that it took him three days to even leave his vacation to deal with the disaster.
That was followed by the Abramoff scandal. For those of you who missed it, last Friday (the day when politicians intentionally disclose damaging information because no one pays attention at 4 p.m. on a Friday) the White House announced that Chief of Staff, Karl Rove’s aide would be stepping down because her employment had been arranged by Abramoff. The White House repeatedly denied having any ties to Abramoff even as it was announced this week that Abramoff had over 400 contacts with the White House in the last four years. But hey, ‘truth’ has always been a relative term for this administration. After that, the President started listening to our phone calls without warrants.
Not to be outdone, two weeks ago we watched the President’s pleas to allow him to torture people. And for good measure, he asserted that we’d better strip detainees of Habeas Corpus too.
Last week began the complete debacle surrounding Republican Congressman Mark Foley’s inappropriate conduct with underage male pages, and the ensuing cover-up by Republican leadership.
Needless to say, none of this is very funny. But this week, we reached the tipping point. Last Monday, North Korea claimed it successfully tested a Nuclear Weapon. It’s clear that President Bush’s foreign policy of, “we don’t talk to people we don’t like” hasn’t worked.
All the aforementioned Bush disasters have come with horrific ramifications. None of them however have the potential for calamity on the magnitude of a North Korean nuclear attack.
For a period, it was funny. That period has passed.
Clearly, the last two years have been terribly damaging for America, both at home and abroad. And obviously there is nothing funny about the prospect of two more years under this inept Congress. Right now, we’re less than four weeks away from Election Day. When ballots are mailed out in two weeks, vote to get rid of this Congress. Americans can take a joke as well as the next guy, but if allow this to continue for another two years then the real joke’s on us.
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