A Failed Presidency
If elections were solely a job performance review, President George W. Bush would lose in a landslide. He has been a reckless steward of the nation's finances and its environment, a divisive figure at home and abroad. It's fair to say that Bush has devalued the American brand in the global marketplace.
What keeps this a close race is voter discomfort with Sen. John F. Kerry and the success of Republicans in stoking concerns about Kerry's fitness for office. But the thrust of the Bush campaign message -- essentially, you are stuck with me in this frightful time because the other guy is too unreliable -- is a tacit acknowledgment that he can't allow the election to be a referendum on his record.
Bush says John Kerry is ill suited to lead American troops and allies in Iraq, given the senator's doubts about the wisdom of going to war there in the first place. The president's strongest moments during the debates came when he pressed this line of attack -- that you can't succeed in a mission you don't believe in. Kerry missed a golden opportunity to turn such reasoning to his advantage, for if there is an overarching theme to the Bush failure as president, it's his inherent disdain for the role of the federal government and for the very act of governing. The mission of the presidency is not one Bush believes in. Though he may see himself as the man chosen by a higher authority to protect the nation, Bush spends a lot of time bashing Washington and, by extension, the government he leads.
Try to imagine Franklin D. Roosevelt being so disdainful of government while trying to rally the nation during World War II. It wouldn't have worked. Nor would it have worked if he had starved the Treasury of the resources needed to accomplish the mission. That is what Bush has done with his reckless tax cuts and unabated domestic spending.
In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the White House initially opposed the move to federalize airport security. Bush was also against creating the Department of Homeland Security, until he realized he was going to lose that fight too. Often forgotten, these were revealing moments.
Bush's disdain for Washington may be one reason he has been so cavalier about his duty to keep the government's finances in order. The Bush years have been a Vegas-style all-you-can-eat buffet for special and not-so-special interests. He is the first president in more than a century not to veto a single piece of legislation, and in the ensuing anything-goes environment, even recent legislation meant to end export subsidies declared illegal by the World Trade Organization somehow degenerated into a $140-billion corporate welfare program.
