Second Negative

I hated Bush before it was cool

I saw the title above on a political t-shirt this weekend, but raise your hand if it makes you think of Barbara Mandrell. Anyone?

To be completely fair, I’ve never hated Bush. I just think that he’s been a terrible president. Which incidentally is the same thing I thought before the last election, when plenty of the recent turncoat right-wingers came out of the closet to pronounce him the second coming of Reagan, as if that was any sort of compliment.

Reading the editorial pages down here has become comical over the past year as conservative readers write in to express dismay at the direction Bush has taken the country. Well hallelujah and welcome to the real world people. Let me make room for you on the bandwagon. Lunch will be served in an hour. It’s crow, but there’s plenty to go around.

The story of this administration’s incompetence isn’t news to at least 48% of us. We’ve known for years. We’ve watched one foul up after another while you were out with your friends at the “Global Warming is a Myth” rally sponsored by Exxon.

As if that wasn’t enough, I discovered over the Christmas holiday that someone I know is now sporting a huge Buck Fush sticker on their automobile. They’ve never been a Republican (as far as I can recall) but they’ve never exactly been political either. And thinking about it, they tend to see things in black and white, don’t really read, and often mangle the English language in new and scary ways. They’re against Bush? They ARE Bush. Talk about reaching out to your base.

Sadly, even now, after the wake-up call provided by the Democrats landslide victory in the mid-term elections, Bush takes one positive step forward followed by two quick steps back. There isn’t an easy way out for him at this point because his legacy will be based on Iraq. Remember that disaster? The one the administration said we were winning right up until the recent confirmation hearings when Dr. Gates was asked if he believed we were winning the war in Iraq. His reply? “No sir.”

Of course, I’m not really celebrating over here just because I knew something the other side didn’t. I know plenty they don’t know. And we’ll probably be dead before they find out. But someone is going to have to clean up this mess. And although I don’t know who that will be, the t-shirts tell me it takes a Clinton to clean up after a Bush.