Bush, not destined for Mount Rushmore

Given the recent performance of the stock market, the likely rise in interest rates, and the skyrocketing oil prices, I think we're headed for a third dip into a recessionary pattern.

Bush's lack of leadership is shown better nowhere than in that stupid speech he gave to Congress days after 9/11. Instead of asking Americans to sacrifice for the common good (as FDR did in his 1942 State of the Union), he essentially told citizens to "go about your business," i.e., spend the country out of the recession. He should have told people to stop driving their SUVs, then pushed Congress into passing legislation to make hybrid or alternative fuel cars mandatory by 2010. Going into Afghanistan was justified. Too bad he didn't stay there & finish the job.

Iraq has been a disaster: 700+ American lives and counting. Nick Berg was not killed by Saddam loyalists, he was killed by Al Queda terrorists who would not be in Iraq if Bush had not gotten us into this mess.

Gays like myself have not been this pissed off at the government since the 1980s. Many in the community would have been more than content to accept a compromise like Civil Unions, or would have at least been gratified to hear Bush say something like "let's have a reasoned national discussion on this issue." He did not. Rather, he kowtowed to the far right of his party by calling for a Constitutional Amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Many in the gay community are becoming entrenched in their views--Bush's actions this winter amount to a gay Pearl Harbor. And I'm sorry to put it so bluntly, but any gay/lesbian voter who supports Bush is a deluded fool and a traitor to our community.

As far as education goes, here in Ohio things have never been so bad. The religious right has taken over numerous school boards and state agencies, and is now pushing a right wing agenda including abstinence only education and creationism. Things here have gotten so bad that, had I children, I would send them to a private school where they could get decent education in the arts and sciences.

Bush is no leader. Leadership by definition means influencing public opinion THROUGH THE FORCE OF ONE'S IDEAS. Bush has no ideas, only misinformation about WMDs and Iraq/An Queda links. He's also terrified of contradicting public opinion. Has this guy ever even vetoed anything?

Bush's presidency is the worst failure in American politics since the demise of Herbert Hoover. Hopefully, come November, the Bush dynasty will be relegated to the ash-heap of American politics--forever.