http://flakmag.com/opinion/shredder03.html
Weekly Shredder 3:
Rose Garden flashback with President Bush
by Alissa Rowinsky
On Aug. 5, 2001, a fresh-faced President Bush stood in the
Rose Garden with his elder statesman vice president and shiny new Cabinet
and gave a speech touting all that his administration had achieved in its
first six months in office.
That week, in which the biggest news stories were Chandra Levy's
disappearance and a series of shark attacks off the Florida coast, a Pew
poll logged the President's job approval rating at 50 percent.
Three years, one massive terrorist attack, two wars and countless
domestic and foreign policy fiascos later, his approval rating (once as
high as 84 percent) has dropped to 46 percent.
So how does what President Bush claimed to accomplish six months
into his presidency compare with what he actually has accomplished to
date, six months before it ends? Let's go to the (abridged) text.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Good afternoon. The vice president and I are pleased to
welcome the Cabinet to the Rose Garden. Together with Congress, we are
proving that a new tone, a clear agenda and active leadership can bring
significant progress to the nation's capital.
That this administration brought "a new tone" to Washington is indisputable.
The man who ran as "a uniter, not a divider" is the most divisive,
partisan president in American history. His "clear agenda" is based not on
the "compassionate conservatism" we used to hear so much about, but rather
a worldview based in equal parts on indulging fringe millennial Christians
and tossing government pork to corporate cronies.
BUSH: We are ending deadlock and drift and making our system work on
behalf of the American people.
Despite the fact that his own party controls both the House and the
Senate, the President has had extremely limited success pushing his agenda
through the legislature. Last week, following a protracted, ugly and
ultimately fruitless debate over gay marriage, Congress adjourned for its
six-week recess. Despite pressure from the president and Republican
leadership, Congress was unable to pass the enormous, pork-laden,
industry-enriching energy, transportation and corporate tax bills it spent
months cobbling together before it left.
BUSH: Six months ago, I chose a distinguished Cabinet, took a solemn oath
and promised to fight for the things close to my heart. My administration
pledged to bring stability and high standards to Washington and to lead
for the sake of all Americans.
Well, the rich ones, anyway.
BUSH: We acted quickly to pass the first major tax cut in a generation,
to help families in an economic slowdown and to help rebuild the momentum
of our economy.
Remember that $120 tax (p)rebate you might have received back then?
Remember what a huge difference it made to you and your family? It is no
secret that our economy has been booming ever since. In fact, just
yesterday, the AP reported that "[t]he White House will project soon that
this year's federal deficit will exceed $420 billion, a record figure
certain to ignite partisan warfare over President Bush's handling of the
economy."
Also, see Lawrence Mishel and Lee Price's excellent article in the
American Prospect for a detailed explanation of how Bush's tax cuts have
failed to stimulate the economy and create jobs as promised.
BUSH: Both houses of Congress have passed major education reform
legislation, which will bring a new passion for excellence to America's
public schools.
Ah yes, of course. Nothing brings a new passion for excellence to
America's public schools like enormous unfunded mandates, rigid and often
unworkable standardized testing requirements that severely limit
teachers' discretion and the ever-present, looming threat of federally
imposed sanctions hanging over the heads of teachers and administrators.
BUSH: We have put our foreign policy on sound footing. We are
strengthening our relationships with our allies and moving to build a
world that trades more freely.
Psych!
BUSH: There's much more to do. In September, the second stage of our
work begins, and I will be guided by a few goals. First, we must finish
the work we have begun. On the topics of education and the disadvantaged,
our nation has needs that will not wait. Americans, come September, will
be watching.
And indeed, come September, Americans were watching. First, we watched
as those hijacked planes crashed into buildings, and then we watched the
members of Congress join hands and sing "God Bless America" in a
bipartisan show of unity on the steps of the Capitol. Then we continued to
watch as they filed back inside and, in the name of that bipartisan spirit
of unity, passed the USA PATRIOT Act without reading it, vastly increasing
police powers and curtailing our civil rights.
And we were still watching later when the president, who had transformed
the spirit of bipartisan unity into a stick with which to bully Congress,
capitalized on our fear and led us into a war we never should have fought
in the first place.
E-mail Alissa Rowinsky at alissa at flakmag dot com.
— graphic by Derek Evernden (derek@ocellus.net)
(c) 2004 Flak Magazine
.
|
