Take heart, good people; we are now into the “last time” phase of the presidency of George W. Bush.
Oh, happy day.
Last week was the last time we will hear a State of the Union message from him, though, to be frank, the speech Bush gave was a rehash of lies, exaggerations and delusions about the president’s war-mongering and a dance around the 800-pound gorilla in the room -- the economy.
We have always demanded better from a president, but know better than to expect it from this one. At least there is the consolation that we won’t be subjected to such a farce again.
Today will bring another welcomed last: Bush’s final annual budget proposal. Not that we’re surprised, but it will show that the “compassionate conservatism” he once touted is about as deep as onion skin.
Bush’s budget for 2009 is a $3 trillion insult. If he has his way, Medicare -- the program that pays for old folks’ health care and medicine -- would be cut by $178 billion. Medicaid -- the program that provides health care for the poor -- would be chopped by $17 billion. Public education funding would be frozen at $60 billion -- the equivalent of about four months of funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan war machinery -- and crumbling public housing can forget about those long overdue repairs.
At the same time, Bush has the audacity to stand by the tax cuts that, until 9/11, was his prime obsession. These would be the tax cuts that, rather than keeping the economy ticking, only served to widen the gap between rich and poor in both dollar amounts and numbers of people. These would be the cuts that helped create the false sense of security that led to a glut of jumbo loans, which have since gone kaput and sparked a snowballing crisis.
It was Bush’s you-can-wage-war-and-shop-'til-you-drop-too policy, glorification of wealth, reward of avarice and appeal to greed that evaporated the surplus he inherited and kneecapped the economy.
All of that, plus, lest we forget, that expensive, uncalled-for, immoral scam of a war in Iraq. Bush rolled in the troops on a highway of lies. Now that his pretexts have collapsed, he can’t figure how to get them out. So, the beat goes on, as does the slight-of-hand. In the new budget, the Pentagon will be asking for about $515 billion, $70 billion of it for Iraq and Afghanistan. Don’t get excited; the cost isn’t dropping; the Pentagon has simply refused to present a full year’s budget, as it is supposed to do and as it promised it would.
Even on its last leg, this administration not only thumbs its nose at the American people and proper, constitutional protocols; it gives them the finger. And why not, if there are no consequences for breaking trust? His only penalty has been declining approval ratings. But, the power of public opinion presupposes that Bush cares what the hoi polloi thinks of him. He doesn’t. The rich and powerful love what he’s done. There’s no real threat of impeachment. And he’s almost at the finish line.
Whoever wins in November is, almost by definition, going to be an improvement. We can rejoice that we’ve survived the man, albeit maybe not in one piece.
As we increasingly diversify -- in ethnicity, in ideology, in lifestyle, in needs -- it is important to note that one area where people of color have yet to break ranks is in political affiliation. Bush is why.
What thinking, self-respecting, caring person in his or her right mind wants anything to do with a party that would lend its name and resources to a man like this? In these break-the-mold days, he has driven out any fledgling interest in joining the GOP and waving the banner of a party that props up someone with such disregard -- contempt, even -- for the poor and striving.
