It was a dark time in our history. A black pall that befell our great nation.
George Bush fooled me once, shame on me. I won't be fooled again!
The former President's new book, Decision Points, was released this past Tuesday to moderate fanfare as he made the rounds of the talk circuit to promote it.
We the people had to suffer through eight years of adversity and possibly the worst administration in U.S. history; one of the darkest most damaging times in recollection. The tribulations of his time in office could be felt for two or three more decades.
His self-aggrandizing vignette should have been titled Derision Points as he made such a mockery of the presidency. Or it could have been called Division Points for his "you're either with us or against us" statement which was indicative of his false bravado.
So why Decision Points?
At no point did he make a decision that could be definitive of his eight years in office unless it was negative. In fact it is hard to look back at his tenure and find any positive outcome from his presidency. He seems unable to understand that.
It is difficult to figure Dubya out. He is, at the same time, either delusional or smart, fully aware or in complete denial, a liar or oblivious, to the devastation he and his administration has caused. He is, if nothing else, an enigma.
This feeling has been reinforced after seeing segments of his first appearances on the book tour. His account of his place in history is far removed from the reality of his legacy.
Quite frankly, Bush fiddled while the nation burned. An inferno that he was either unable to see or totally ignored.
Failure after abject failure did nothing to deter him from his ineptness. He seemed incapable to learn the lessons of past fiascos, unfazed and unshaken by his major catastrophes, even after a wrongful attack on Iraq where his actions left thousands of young men and women dead or disabled. Unapologetic for his dereliction in preventing 9/11 after an August Presidential Daily Briefing warned him of an impending attack within the United States. He was undisturbed and nonplussed by his failures -- and there were numerous -- in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, totally missing the plight of the residents as the disaster unfolded. Nor are the deficit and banking crisis his fault despite doubling the deficit and gutting the regulatory agencies that could have prevented the worst financial crisis since The Great Depression. And so many children have been left behind by Bush's unfunded education program.
Failures of leadership. Consequences of an inept stewardship.
In spite of all these failures and others, he either, incredibly, views his presidency unlike most Americans or is unashamedly trying to falsify his legacy. Revisionism that is absent any measure of humility.
The worst President in our nation's history can see no missteps in his leadership, and watching him distort the truth of his eight years in office, show after show, is offensive to everyone's intelligence.
It is difficult for those that have followed the devastation of his presidency to describe him without using unflattering, contemptuous, or corrosive terms.
His presidency was an American tragedy; so is his hardcover attempt at revisionism.