Politics
Jacob Weisberg On The Bush Tragedy -, 21 November 2008 15:00
Soon-to-be US President Barack Obama swept to victory with a message of change. He will replace George W. Bush, who has earned the dubious distinction of being the least popular president since opinion polls began. So where did Bush and his administration go wrong? Jacob Weisberg, until recently editor of the Influential online journal Slate.com and now editor-in-chief of the Slate Group, has written a book on the subject, "The Bush Tragedy". Here he's at the Aspen Festival of Ideas.
Comments (23)
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blax5 :
26 Nov 2008 10:43:15am
There is nothing tragic about George Dubya. People come and go; they are interchangeable because the issues are what makes or ruins the day.
The tragedy is the American system that installs too much power in one person, and when you get one who lacks good judgement then the damage can be huge as we see now. No person should have that much power that he/she can inflict damage of this magnitude within just eight years.
In 2003 and 2004, people came to him (and his crew) to reregulate part of the US finance industry. No, they wanted minimalist government, which transfers a lot of power to the companies. What that leads to we all know now.
We all hope, of course, that the new President may be able to turn the ship around, but he needs a strong crew, and company lobbyists backing off, maybe even legislation to limit lobbyists of all kinds, including university people and think tanks which are funded by companies.
George Dubya was the President they had to have, that is the tragedy, their and ours. -
Jeff in Houston :
25 Nov 2008 2:41:40pm
You know, the interesting question, if not completely forgotten, is whether the American people actually elected George W. Bush at all. And, whether or not they actually re-elected him in 2004. The Florida Secretary of State (runs the election in the state) was a devout Christian named Katherine Harris, who later ran for Senate (failed) and made a passioned case for a more godly country. The Secy of State in Ohio in 2004 was Ken Blackwell, an equally devout religious zealot, who inexplicably kicked the observers out of the final ballot counting in one of Ohio's largest counties. Zealots such as these will subvert any law that conflicts with their religious worldview. I shall remain skeptical whether America actually elected, and especially whether it actually re-elected, George W Bush
The hard right ideology is basically to destroy the government fiscally if you can't get your way through the ordinary political process. That is the consistent thread of Bush. And he's not done yet. -
granny :
25 Nov 2008 11:42:55am
The fact that JH was Dubyas' only admirer and global friend says a lot about JHs' intelligence. Agree with comments about Hllary Clinton, I cannot understand why people as rich as her would bother sticking her snout into the ugly world of politics. What is she trying to prove??? moreover what is her agenda???? One day, hopefully, the legalists will take these poor excuses for humanity to court. Fraud, deception, liars, the US administration under GWB was rotten to the very core .
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Hayward :
26 Nov 2008 6:17:35am
Granny,
As well as our late unlamented Prime Mendacious aka Deputy Dawg, The Faux Texan had Tony Bliar aka The Poodle. He who, like Dubya, consulted the Lord before visiting shock and awe on the Land of Iraq. -
Big M :
26 Nov 2008 5:56:30pm
The sad legacy of JH's devotion to GWB is the free trade agreement with the US. This may be of some use to our exporters, at some stages of the economic cycle, but will cost Australian's income and jobs. It will inevitably increase the cost of health-care in this country, no doubt, to herald in some piss weak version of US "health"care.
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Chui Tey :
25 Nov 2008 3:38:52am
The problem with dogmatists is that they often put other peoples money where their mouth is.
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least popular :
25 Nov 2008 1:34:41am
What do you mean least popular, I'm sure johny howard would disagree.
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Groucho :
24 Nov 2008 11:42:26pm
Now let's see.GWB pissed trillions of $$$ up against a lying war wall,-and sent his country bankrupt-but he destabilised oil supplies-and he is an oil magnate- so stands to profit from these factors.
Gol Dang why dint we see that cumn yall?
MARK; I agree with the Dick Cheney comment, but GWB made a shedload of dufus blunders as well.
Not sure whether he is too evil to be dumb or vice versa. -
Mitch :
24 Nov 2008 7:55:34pm
Ddaa, dubya did not drop out of blue.
The village idiot was a necessity for republicans to conduct desperate atrocious acts to slow down collapse of US economy !
US policies with help of Bush's father planted regimes like Saddam and Taliban deacades ago.
Your ulterior tragic question is probably why it did not work ?
For the same reasons all empires in history came to an end:
they ruthlessly exploited people and resources around them, to the extent of their own collapse !
Don't worry, this won't be the last time. -
CrankyAllTheTime :
24 Nov 2008 6:02:24pm
The American people elected GWB not once but twice...who went wrong?
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Mark :
24 Nov 2008 5:26:17pm
Bush made one disastrous error from which all bad things flowed: picking Dick Cheney as his running mate.
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greg hoey :
24 Nov 2008 4:45:16pm
Just hope obama is not persuaded into this Clinton thing.
That woman is lots baggage [whitewater collapse in the mid eighties and suicide of its manager and by all accounts her lover, her husband Bills infidelity while at same time being your typical promoter of the virtues of female empowerment, and with his recent african aid dealings.]
She is exact definition of all that is bad about contemporary White upper-middle class western feminist politics.
Utterly self-serving.-
DocMercury :
24 Nov 2008 5:08:12pm
"Utterly self-serving."
You say that as if it were unusual.
It is difficult to see the imbalance of resource put into Iraq and Afghanistan, in view of the addiction to crude oil (which apparently exceeds by far that for opium), as anything close to altruistic.
Dick Cheney and Haliburton are merely the icing on the hog pie.-
greg hoey :
02 Dec 2008 4:23:00pm
Its not unusual at all but the fact that she comes as great almighty god-given virtuistic female is and needs to be understood and pegged for what it is.
Sick of all these politically correct socialist hypocrits as well.
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Truth :
24 Nov 2008 5:22:17pm
Do we detect the writings of a misogynist here?
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greg hoey :
24 Nov 2008 7:04:27pm
As well her need to find some country to bomb, in order to convince all the republican hawks she can be one of them and just as tough as any man.
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Fran :
25 Nov 2008 6:01:07pm
Nothing in the text suggests this. Opposing a woman's political ambitions does not entail misogyny.
The fact of the matter is that Hillary Clinton laid the basis for the McCain campaign's cri de coeur about Obama "not connecting with white workingclass people" and pandered to racial and reactionary sentiment with her "bittergate" remarks.
She tried to run Rove-style fear with her 3AM phone call ads and garnered votes by tearing up at a press conference. She lied about being under fire in Bosnia.
And then of course there's the baggage she comes with ... -
JIZZMASTER ZERO :
26 Nov 2008 3:06:05am
maybe he should have said just about any rich person who tries to manipulate the us political scene
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