President Bush Is Number One!

I’ve long believed that our 15th president, James Buchanan was beyond question the most inept of our presidents. To be sure there have been some close competitors, names that would certainly include Franklin Pierce and maybe Warren Harding among others; I’m not certain about Harding. John Dean’s recent kind biography does highlight a few positives on the Harding scale. However, I am mindful of the fact that John Dean grew up just down the street from the Harding home in Ohio and walked by it every day on his journey to and from school and, therefore, may feel a certain home town loyalty. But damn, I just never thought that anyone could possibly dislodge Buchanan from the ignoble top spot on the list of incompetent boobs who’ve been elected to the top office. Well, I was wrong! Beyond even a shadow of doubt Bush, W,” deserves the top spot. He’s inept, self centered, lacks compassion, and like his father has no concept of the vision thing. And I would add to the ineptness factor, the sad fact that Bush’s actions as president belie a basic belief in the democratic principles he so fondly and so often mentions in his speeches; the principles he promised to up hold when he took the oath of office.

Consider the leadership example Bush gives us, keeping in mind as Bob Herbert reminds us in today’s Times, “. . . there was already a war going on when Katrina came to call. I've always believed that war is a serious matter. But the president was on vacation. Dick Cheney was on vacation. And Condi Rice was here in New York taking in the sights and shopping for shoes. That Americans were fighting and dying on foreign soil was not enough to demand their full attention. They were busy having fun.” Herbert sadly, but correctly concludes, “ So it's no wonder it took a good long while before they noticed that a whole section of America had been wiped out in a calamity of biblical proportions,” (New York Times, September 22).

As I’ve noted before (See my post Bubba, Education, and the Global Village), this anti-government, anti-people crowd sense no obligation to the people they were elected to serve. The unfolding tragedy in the gulf region highlights the utter incompetence of many high ranking Bush buddies in positions of tremendous responsibility. Though the republicans were willing to keep Wild Bill Clinton in a state of perpetual investigation, costing us tens of millions, covering a broad range of venial sins, they refuse to appoint an investigative body to look into any of the major disasters orchestrated by Bush and company. No, instead they give us a Supreme Court nominee who’s instructed not to answer questions, and then in a manner made standard practice during the Iraqi debacle, they address the aftermath of the Katrina hit with no bid cost plus contracts to a few select Bush approved contractors. To put salt in the festering wounds they suspend labor laws designed to insure worker safety and basic fairness. In essence, these companies can now legally exploit workers and collect excess profits. And oh yes, the environmental plans these companies would normally have to submit for approval are also suspended. But don’t worry, this president is strongly opposed to gay marriages and will do everything he can do to eliminate a woman’s right to chose. And yes, if it’s possible, he’s going to turn our public schools into something like churches, where principles of science will finally take a back seat to Jerry Falwell’s twisted interpretation of the Holy Bible. Save us Jerry! Now I know that Jerry and Pat think that 9/11 and some of these other national calamities are the direct result of the immoral behavior of wild eyed radical women and some of those over sexed gays. And maybe that’s why Bush is pushin’ the fundamentalist religious crap at us, I’m not sure. Shit! Maybe all this mean spirited, greedy crap is due to Barbar's (W's ma ma) attack bitch spirit. Damn, never thought of that possibility. She seemed to know that Katrina was a blessing in some kinda disguise for all those poor folk huddled in the Astro Dome, least, that what she said.

But the fact is, we’re so damned far out in front of the rest of the nations that make up this global village of ours, we need to take a national break and give some of these countries a chance to catch up, especially China and India where their universities aren’t worrying about “intelligent design” they’re foolishly turning out math and science Ph.d.’s at an alarming rate. I’ll bet those scientific dummies wont know a hell of a lot about the Holy Bible. . .sad isn’t it; they’re all destined to end up in hell.

Ever on the watch for ya,

Davy Crockett