The motivation which got me started writing on this site was the incompetence of the Bush administration in virtually every aspect of their “reign.”  Most importantly, the frustration I felt at watching George W Bush and Dick Cheney recreating the national disaster which highlighted my post high school years in the sixties which was, of course, Viet Nam.  Ever since the invasion of Iraq, pundits have been shying away from making the comparison.  Of course, we were not only mired in Iraq – FOOLISHLY and CRIMINALLY (just like Viet Nam) – but we continued the occupation of Afganistan in a fruitless and aimless fashion (also, just like Viet Nam).  All the while boosting the pockets of America’s defense industry (including the many “contractors” who were sending personell to do what our American servicemen/women used to do only for FIVE TIMES AS MUCH MONEY) and, at the same time, RUINING our standing in the world as leaders who believed in freedom and human rights.

Of course, in my view, Iraq and Afganistan have evolved into something worse than Viet Nam.  For one thing, there’s no draft and the “burden” of this war has fallen on an undersized military for the job given it by civilian leaders who had NO IDEA what was involved in prosecuting a war.  The FACT that we have service personell who have had upwards of 6 or 7 tours of duty in these two fiasco’s should speak for itself in supporting those of us who have wanted OUT for many YEARS now.  Worse than that, George W Bush enacted a tax cut – geared mainly toward the wealthiest Americans – that not only took our economy DEEP into the “red,” but led to an underfunding of critical needs of our troops such as armor on vehicles, etc.  Additionally,  Bush (with the “blessing of Congress”) BORROWED every dime that was needed to fund these two occupations.  His suggestion, in answer to a question of “how can the average American support these war efforts,”   was “KEEP SHOPPING!”

 When I read (about two or three years ago – I believe in a book by Sy Hersch) that both Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had PROFITED by over $100 MILLION each from their stock in companies who were winning NO BID contracts from our involvement in Iraq and Afganistan I was further outraged (there were others in the Bush “inner circle” who managed HUGE PROFITS off of the suffering of the Iraqi people and the abuse of our troops).  Of course, there doesn’t seem to be too much interest from our professional media to expose this crap and one of the reasons I’m down on President Obama is his willingness to look the other way to what happened (not to mention that he is now taking full ownership of these two HUGE BLUNDERS).

As the Bush administration “aged,” the BLUNDERS continued to come fast and furious.  It was like the American people were sitting there helpless, anxiously waiting for this “nightmare” to end.  There was the (non) reaction to Katrina.  There was the evidence that continued to come out during the entire eight years of Bush/Cheney regarding the incompetence leading to 9/11 – it should have never happened (I believe we haven’t learned nearly all we’re eventually going to learn on that one).  There was the incredible “outing” of a CIA agent directly from the Vice President’s office (kind of gives you an idea of why not too many Republicans wanted to take Cheney “on”) – I’m still amazed that further investigation of that TREASON hasn’t happened.  I mean, the executive branch simply CAN’T BE OUTING CIA AGENTS and still claiming they’re “keeping us safe” – as we constantly still hear from the mouth of Cheney.  There was the attempt to “privatize” Social Security (can you imagine where we’d be right now had they succeeded on that one?).  There was the TOTAL POLITICIZING – unapologetically – of the foundation of order in this nation, the Justice Department.  I mean, that one in itself, when you think about it, should be TOTALLY INVESTIGATED and prosecuted where appropriate.  Do you remember; they were actually taking “loyalty oaths” to the Republican party and the Bush administration to hire lawyers for the supposedly NEUTRAL Justice Department.  Just think about what that would do to this nation had they succeeded.  If you weren’t a Republican you’d better watch what you’re saying or you might end up on their “enemy combatant” list.  Remember, Alabama’s  former Governor Donald Siegelman who actually spent 9 months in jail (being moved around to keep him inaccessible to what’s left of the true investigative journalists out there) on VERY SUSPICIOUS charges that can be EASILY traced right back to Karl Rove in President Bush’s White House?  For some strange reason, the Obama Justice Department isn’t paying too much attention to Mr. Siegelman’s woes – I suppose because they are TERRIFIED of taking on the Bush people in court! (I’m actually beginning to wonder if Dick Cheney has the “goods” on our President – this pro-Republican behavior is inexplicable to me)

Bush/Cheney were illegally wiretapping who knows how many American citizens.  And, really, here’s another area of disappointment I have in the new administration.  This is a direct violation of the 4th Amendment to the constitution along with a host of other laws.  Yet, President Obama and Attorney General Holder showed not one ounce of interest in uncovering what happened in a way to assure the rest of us that this kind of abuse wouldn’t be tolerated.  (in fact, Obama and Holder are defending the Bush policies in court – UNBELIEVABLE TO ME)  These people take an oath to uphold, defend, and protect the Constitution when they take office.  It seems that oath doesn’t mean much these days.  Richard Nixon claimed that “if the President does it, it must be legal.”  This was proved wrong at an historic time in American history, but the present Democratic President and Congress are showing an alarming lack of courage to uphold the precedence that “if the President does it and it’s illegal, the President gets prosecuted.”  (I realize Nixon wasn’t prosecuted, but he was essentially impeached – and, had the Democrats impeached Bush I don’t think I’d feel this need to prosecute him and his co-conspirators)

And then there’s everyone’s – well, not everyone, but a lot of us – favorite curiosity that will also seemingly go unanswered – and that has to do with the bailout of the Banks and the resulting MELTDOWN of the economy in Bush’s last pitiful days in office.  For some reason the people in the so-called “liberal” media think those of us who would like to see a FULL INVESTIGATION of the connection between Hank Paulson and the banks who received the TARP funds are fringe nuts or something along those lines.  They don’t seem to see the same possibilities people like me see.  Hank was the CEO of Goldman Sachs prior to taking over as Treasury Secretary.  Goldman’s chief rival in the Credit Default Swaps and derivatives scam was Lehman Brothers and Goldman’s “risk” was “insured” throgh AIG (and, believe me, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THIS ALL WORKS).  Well, to make a long story short, when Lehman failed and AIG was destined to fail, reports were that Goldman and Morgan Stanley weren’t far behind – maybe a few days.  This is when Paulson jumped into the fray with his famous three page proposal to Congress which specifically would put Paulson in charge of 700 BILLION taxpayer dollars with the usual Bush credo of NO OVERSIGHT.  Well, Paulson didn’t get exactly what he wanted, but he did get enough to essentially have the taxpayers purchase AIG (promising a potential amount of bailout money that I believe normal people like me can’t even imagine) – which was necessary to discreetly save Goldman (AIG had insured a tremendous amount of Goldman’s “risk”) and then throw in another ENORMOUS amount of taxpayer cash to overtly save Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and evidently some banks who didn’t even need the money.  I believe Paulson’s entire portfolio of Goldman stock (I know it was probably in a trust somewhere, but I can’t bring myself to believe that Paulson wasn’t protecting his self interest when obligating me and every other American to the Wall Street banks who caused the huge economic meltdown – to the tune of potentially TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars) was on the line and he was unabashed in using his position as Treasury Secretary to protect it. (and, of course, Paulson as CEO of Goldman up until 2006 was largely responsible for putting the company in such a risky position in the first place)

The best way I can describe the Bush administration and the people who were at the heart of it is GREED PERSONIFIED.  But, now that we have Republicans running around complaining that Barack Obama isn’t keeping us safe, due to the “underpants” terrorist who failed to destroy a plane headed for Detroit on Christmas day, let’s look at their record for keeping us safe.  It was, after all, on the Bush/Cheney watch that the worst attack in the history of this country took place.  3000 people died because of their incompetency prior to 9/11.  I’m not going to give all the details I’ve read about tonight, but suffice it to say there is OVERWHELMING evidence that the 9/11 attacks should never have happened.  According to James Bamford in “The Shadow Factory,” the NSA had a “line” on the perpetrators to 9/11 from the first days of the Bush administration, but infighting among the different intelligence agencies let these guys pretty much have “free reign” in carrying out their plan.  This doesn’t even take into account all the direct intelligence that was given directly to Bush himself and his immediate surrogates – especially Condoleeza Rice – which was ESSENTIALLY IGNORED.  Bush, as widely reported, chose to take an extended vacation after seeing a memo (the now famous August 6 memo) which basically predicted what was to happen on 9/11.

The Bush/Cheney reaction to 9/11 was beyond reason itself.  Of course, almost everyone – everywhere – supported the invasion of Afganistan to “get” al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.  Had they just done that, all would be good, and President Bush probably wouldn’t today be widely regarded as the WORST President in our history.  They not only let bin Laden and his cohorts go, they used 9/11 as an excuse to go into Iraq – which was their main objective from the first day they took control of the White House – thus making the United States less safe since then – and for (based on what President Obama is doing) the foreseeable future.  The torture, the rendition, the killing of HUGE NUMBERS OF CIVILIANS, the “bring it on” attitude that President Bush was so proud of – and his supporters seemed to thrive from – has TOTALLY UNDERMINED everything the US worked so hard to achieve as far as its standing in the world – and worked TOTALLY as a major recruiting “tool” for al Qaeda and other extremist groups since the day we “toppled” Saddam Hussein’s government and DESTABILIZED the Middle East.   Republicans turned Iran into a MAJOR force in the Middle East and the world, yet complain bitterly about the very problem they created as if it’s Obama’s fault.  Moreover, listening to these Republicans politicizing the “underpants” bomber as a failure of Obama makes me want to PUKE. 

I even heard one guy today complain that it took Obama “three days” to make a public statement.  Well, it’s Christmas time and I haven’t been watching things too closely the past few days, but I wondered – does this guy want us to compare whatever Obama did to the actions of the Republicans under Bush?  I believe they should think twice before getting into that debate.   Shouldn’t we just be trying to come together as a nation with the intent to figure out how to make it as difficult as possible for terrorists to  succeed while still defending the core principles of our constitution – which the Republicans are likely to attack again (and, to be honest, I’m not too sure about the Democrats – let’s hope we don’t have another assault on the 4th amendment or something like that in response to this guy who evidently ended up burning himself in a very sensitive place).

There’s a lot about what President Obama’s doing that I just can’t accept.  If you’ve been around here much, you know what I mean.  I’ve pretty much channeled my energy from Bush and company to Obama and company – mainly because I’m still VERY UNHAPPY with the direction of MY (and, of course, your) government.  However, let me be clear – THE REPUBLICANS ARE NOT THE SOLUTION!  I’m convinced that there are many reasons why progressives are unhappy with President Obama – and they (we) should continue to express this unhappiness – in the hope that he will “come around.”  However, if that doesn’t happen, we need to make sure that NO ONE MISUNDERSTANDS THE DISCONTENT FOR REPUBLICANS!  Make no mistake, however UNSAFE we are today, whether it’s from the “underpants” dude, or wherever it comes from – the reason is BUSH/CHENEY/RUMSFELD and, essentially, the Republicans who enabled EVERYTHING they did for 6 years.

I, personally, would be willing to support progressive candidates in primary elections to unseat the so-called “blue dog” Democrats who are nearly as obstructionist as the Republicans themselves – that might send a sufficient message to Washington – but, if not, then maybe it really is time for a new political “progressive” party.  What we’re doing isn’t working – ie, the health insurance reform legislation where the Democratic Congress is voting against the will of something like 70% of the American public.  I could get excited about Dennis Kucinich leading a new Progressive (liberal) political party in America!  But, let’s not sit here and allow the “blame game” everytime one of these crackpots tries to commit a terrorist act on this nation.  The only reason I point out the blundering of the Bush regime at 9/11 is because these thugs will use anything to undermine President Obama and they’re “throwing stones from a glass house.”  While I want Obama to “chart” a different course than he’s chosen – I DON’T WANT TO UNDERMINE HIM!  I want him to succeed!  And, for any Republican who might read this, I wanted Bush to succeed as well.  I yearn for America to reclaim her role as an example of a nation which puts the interests of her people before the interests of her politicians and corporations.  I really could care less about which party it was (including a new one) that actually managed to do this.