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The Fall of a President:06/25/2005
If recent polls are any indication, the Bush administration is losing ground on almost every front, from rejection of Bush's Social Security privation plan to a growing distain of the military fiasco in Iraq. The American people seem to have had it with Bush, Cheney and their company of propagandists, Bible-thumpers and cover-up specialists. Slowly but surely a presidency marked by secrecy, fraud and deceit is beginning to fray at the edges, gradually unraveling toward the historical trash can.
For those who have questioned this administration from the beginning, it's tough not to say we told you so. In fact, though characterized as naysayers at best or un-American at worst, things have turned out pretty much the way many predicted, especially in regard to Iraq. This month the death toll of American soldiers in Iraq passed the 1,900 mark, and that doesn't count the many who now live crippled both body and mind, to say nothing of the estimated 25,000 to 75,000 Iraqi casualties.
And for what? While Cheney was telling the nation that the Iraq insurgency was "on its last legs," American generals are on record saying just the opposite. Not only is the insurgency far from weakened, as one general put it: "We can't kill them all. For every one we kill, we create three more." In Afghanistan, now that the Taliban is down (but not out) the opium trade is surging. Besides killing American soldiers on an almost daily basis, this supposed new bastion of democracy is now the world's largest producer of opium poppies.
Prior to the invasion of Iraq the Bush administration claimed that the war could be paid for with Iraqi oil, that Iraq had huge stockpiles of weapons and ties to al-Qaida and that we would be greeted as liberators. Two years after declaring major combat operations over, we now know that the cost will be over $300 billion, there were no WMDs or working connections to al-Qaida, and terrorist attacks worldwide have tripled. This stark difference between rhetoric and reality can only be explained as gross incompetence or willful deceit. In fact, a recently leaked memo showed that the head of British Intelligence concluded that, in the U.S., "The intelligence and facts are being fixed around the policy."
The reality of this kind of "victory" isn't lost on the American public. While the U.S. mainstream media certainly deserve criticism for their whitewashed coverage of Bush's "War on Terror", even Fox News can't spin the results of the Iraq war into positive poll numbers. Fifty-nine percent said they considered the 2003 invasion of Iraq a mistake. That figure is the highest recorded in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. Sixty-three percent said they wanted to see some or all U.S. troops withdrawn from that country.
Foreign military adventurism aside, Bush is doing no better in his attempt to privatize Social Security. After a 60-day nationwide tour in front of pre-screened friendly audiences, Bush succeeded only in driving down the number of people who support this vague plan to let Wall Street pick the pockets of Americans' retirement fund. The latest AP-Ipsos poll found a mere 37 percent now support Bush's plan, with 59 percent disapproving.
The latest CNN poll found big trouble for George W.'s leadership legacy, Just 35 percent of those polled approved of Bush's handling of the economy, with 63 percent saying they disapproved.
And the news get's worse. Following the botched Federal response to Katrina only 49 percent called him a strong and decisive leader, down from 54 percent in July and 51 percent in August. Just 42 percent said he cares about people like themselves, and 47 percent called him honest and trustworthy. By contrast, 51 percent did not consider him strong and decisive, 50 percent would not call him honest and 56 percent said he didn't care about people like them.
In 2001, President Bush claimed we could have large income tax cuts for the very rich and still protect the Social Security trust fund. Many economists noted that his numbers didn't add up, but the supposedly liberal press was silent. Now, after creating massive deficits, he claims that the treasury bonds in the Social Security trust fund are just worthless IOUs. In effect, he wants to cut Social Security benefits for everyone making over $20,000 to pay for tax cuts for the most part went to the very wealthy.
The Medicare prescription drug bill is another troubling example of misleading the country. Congress narrowly passed the bill after being given the wrong cost estimate. Medicare's chief actuary later admitted that the White House told him that he would be fired if he revealed the true cost prior to the vote. This bill alone will cost twice as much as the long-term shortfall in Social Security.
President Bush has made privatizing Social Security his top domestic priority. But, with proposed changes in the many state retirement systems, a stagnant stock market, and many under-funded pension plans such as GM and American Airways, the stability of the Social Security system is more important than ever. Given President Bush's record to date, a pattern of using misleading rhetoric, political propaganda, and fear we should view his Social Security plan skeptically.
The president refuses to release a detailed Social Security plan, but his statements to date suggest fuzzy math. He uses pessimistic economic forecasts to claim that Social Security is facing a crisis but uses optimistic economic forecasts to claim that private accounts will yield a higher return. A recent report by Yale economist Robert Shiller concluded that, using realistic economic forecasts, up to 71 percent of people would actually have lower returns under the president's plan. Contrary to the president's claims, there is no free lunch. The administration finally admitted that privatization won't do anything to improve the long-term solvency of Social Security but will add trillions to the national debt.
The president exaggerating the benefits of Social Security privatization while downplaying planned benefit cuts. His 60-city tour, dubbed "BamboozlePalooza" by liberal bloggers. This was a tightly controlled, highly scripted, dog and pony show costing millions of taxpayer dollars. Even though these events were paid for with public funds, people were barred from attending based on political affiliation, wearing the wrong T-shirt, or having the wrong bumper sticker. The participants were cherry picked and rehearsed ensuring President Bush didn't face any tough questions.
We can't begin to address the long-term solvency of Social Security until Republicans decide to make a good-faith effort to balance the budget. According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office and the Conservative Heritage Foundation, if all the president's initiatives are implemented, the interest alone on the national debt could be as large as the entire federal budget in 35 years.
Perhaps the only good news is that Bush, with an approval rating at his all-time low, stuffing through any kind of a second-term agenda let alone his wildly ambitious plans to turn everything from energy policy to social security over to his corporate cronies is going to be tough. Perhaps the clearest indication of the problems are the increasing numbers of Republicans in Congress who are stepping forth with demands for a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. Like "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner," the albatross of the Bush Whitehouse mistakes appears to be too much weight for Congressional Republicans to carry. While the President managed to get CAFTA through, it took some arm twisting and sweet deals to do so.
These kinds of numbers, and the almost impossible odds of improving the situations that spawned them are being felt through Washington. The Republican controlled Congress that has pushed the Bush agenda through with little regard for process or legitimacy has earned the public's distrust, reflected in its miserable 31-percent approval rating. That means more than two of every three Americans think Congress is doing a bad job, not a pleasant reality check for those who have to face the public in the next election cycle.
In fact, it would appear that the rats are already starting to abandon Bush's presidency. Paul Wolfowitz, one of the infamous planners of the Iraq war, has given up his role as military advisor and sidled on over to the World Bank as the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate toward all-out civil war.
There are many important issues facing the country that need to be honestly debated. But, from the "Clear Skies Initiative" that allows more air pollution to the Patriot Act, which curtails personal freedom, this administration is using propaganda to sell questionable initiatives. They are using paid pundits, Enron accounting, Orwellian language, and a lazy media to pass these policies. The results have been crushing debt, devastating budget cuts, a stagnant job market, international alienation, and a quagmire in Iraq. Now they are attempting to use the same tactics to dismantle Social Security except the public is starting to catch on.
The great unraveling of the Bush regime was predictable. After all, you can only expect a house built on lies and deception by cronies to last so long. Unfortunately, unless this president makes a drastic change in direction the residual effects of this administration will be with us far longer than G. W. B. himself, as the pollution, loss of personal privacy and freedom and trillions in national debt are passed on to future generations.