It Ought To Be A Word

It's true what he said: we misunderestimated him.

George Bush came into his presidency with a huge wave of goodwill. Not from me, but from the others. An amazing number of people who should have known better thought of him as a charming guy whose intellectual limitations would somehow be as benign as Ronald Reagan's, whose promise of a fairly passive presidency would be as survivable as Dwight Eisenhower's. So he couldn't seem to get a sentence out straight, so what? And as for his religious rigidity, that was simply his way of dealing with an alcohol problem without the sloppy conventions of AA.

He was misunderestimated in every way. It was hard to imagine that this feckless leader could do so much damage. But even as the worst emerged, he was given the benefit of the doubt because of the ongoing mysteries of his administration -- mysteries that have remained unsolved in spite of the skills of hundreds of gifted journalists who have attempted to uncover them:

• Who exactly was running the country these last eight years?
• What did the President know, if anything, and when did he know it, if ever?
• Was he capable in any way of even one sleepless night, much less the ongoing insomnia that any sentient person would suffer after so many wrong decisions and pointless deaths?
• Did he mispronounce the word "nuclear" 1) on purpose, in order to make himself seem folksy 2) because he actually thought he was pronouncing it correctly or 3) just to piss us off?

The exit appearances that Bush has made in recent weeks will be something future presidents will refer to as often as Lincoln's Second Inaugural, although for different reasons. Here's what he said:

• We did the best we could under the circumstances.
• It's not easy being President.
• It wasn't completely my fault.
• Everyone makes mistakes.
• I kept America safe, except for this one time.
• After that one time I worked really really hard almost every day and had to read a lot of stuff about foreign countries.

This is Bush's legacy -- a stunning series of alibis. This is what he will crawl off to Texas with, hoping that it will fool a publisher into giving him a substantial book advance and contributors into giving him money for a library full of pilfered papers.

On Monday, we will have to get used to a different thing entirely, a president who's in the loop, who reads history, who speaks decent English. He will rob of us of something -- of the burning anger that has sustained us the last eight years, and that will take some adjusting to. But we're up for it; after all these years in the dark, we're ready for a little overestimation. Which is, unlike misunderestimation, an actual word. But come to think of it, misunderestimation ought to be a word. I certainly know what it means.

Comments

[kimleehan]

What Obama needs to do is give gitmo back to the Cuba people, But first bulldoser it, we don't need anybody turning it into a torture museum for the world to see, or do we?

[brerol]

Just another kick in the teeth Bush has to endure.

[Cleanerman]

As an aside,I must say, one thing many of us "posters" have in common is the lack of ability to spell correctly.

I did not vote for Bush and I did not care for him. I am not a member of his political party, anyway. But when he first came to office, I was hoping for the best (of course). I even thought to myself, "Well, he can't speak very well, that is for sure. But, many people that are smart are not articulate". It sadly turned out he was not smart either. But, I can't feel sorry for him. He surrounded himself with people that proved inept and even cruel in my opinion. He wasn't so stupid that he couldn't have chosen better people to help him lead the country. He made me feel ashamed and almost dirty. I feel he and his cronies raped the country.

[Agent420]

Firefox spell checker works good and in real time.

[RedKnuckles]

that would be "works well."

[MrJoyboy]

In a sense we're all Gitmo survivors, having been tortured by Bush and Cheney these eight long years.

[zest]

Lets give Texas back to Mexico and Alaska back to Russia.

[DDK]

Second.

[[e-mail]]

Ha. Good idea. Let's sell them. We need the money.

[carrieanna]

Texas won its independence from Mexico several years before we joined the USA on our own terms.

[G-guy]

The most undeniable evidence of Bush's horrific 8 years, and legacy as this country's
worst President ever are without question, when you consider one basic, obvious truth.

The fact that Obama-Biden was clearly a wiser choice over McCain-Palin is not the point.
The point is, for America to finally overcome it's racial bias and barriers and see the need to elect the
smartest, most qualified candidate, speaks volumes. And win by such a wide margin?

I am one white man who never before believed this scenario in my lifetime.
I did not think it possible for us to get past prejudice, unite , and elect a black man as our President.
It feels good, and I am proud! .Frankly, I am amazed. Many voted in a way they would never consider.

Only the catastrophic results of the incompetent reign of G. W. Bush made this possible.

[tcagle]

I thought he was pitching an administration called "The Aristocrats."

[maxgen]

Who is the "he" who is aristocratic? If you mean Obama, you are mistaken. Bush, who came from a very wealthy Rhode Island family which included an ex President, bought a ranch in Texas a year before running for President so he could be identified as a "good old boy - cowboy Texan" and had degrees, with low marks, from 2 of the most aristocratic universities. And McCain comes from a military family with a couple of admirals, is married to one of the richest women and graduated from the US Naval Academy, again with barely passing grades.

If you are mistakenly referring to aristocratic as being of superior intellect and rhetorical abilities , then Obama is your man. He is an author and an orator and graduated from Harvard with honors.

[LegalCat]

Bravo. Agreed. Like they say in the 12-step programs, sometimes you have to hit bottom before the recovery can begin. That doesn't mean that hitting bottom is a good thing in any way, but sometimes that's what it takes.

[MinasTirith]

Even if we had deliberately elected someone whose intent was to destroy the country as thoroughly as possible, and given 8 years to do it, we'd be hard pressed to find someone who could have done so as completely as W has these past 8.

The founding fathers did have some 'checks and balances' in there to prevent this kind of thing, but even they couldn't foresee the kind of ineptitude that GWB brought to the office, such that he was able to do the damage he did, with some impedance.

Most of it should have come from the peoples of our nation, but as dictators of every stripe know, you have to first scare the people into believing that you are the only hope, before you can steal that hope from them. I'm sure from Cheney's perspective, it was like taking candy from a baby. (And for him, each activity would likely bring as much joy).

In the words of Gandalf... we can now 'Breathe the free air again' my friends. So log as Mr. Petulance doesn't misbehave in some final, disaster ridden way.

[Kassandra]

Yeah, Bush put the Ring on his finger and "disappeared" from the true view of many Americans. Our "liberal" press ( another lie) let him get away with it.

But you have to remember, they worked us up to this so, that by the time Georgie came into power by hook and by crook, we were already blinded. Several generations took the Koolaid and now, we have to find the antidote.

I just finished re-reading "The Lord of The Rings" and I wished I had some of that Elf dust to spread across the Shire.

[LegalCat]

There aren't any mallorn seeds in real life, but we can start cleaning up the Shire by participating in the "call to service" events tomorrow. Here's a link:

http://www.mlkday.gov/

Chaney = Sauron, Bush = Saruman, Gonzales = Grima Wormtongue -- any others?

[EstModusInRebus]

Such misplaced schadenfreude. Can we promise to move on after Tuesday?

[twgbonehead]

No, instead of "move on " (you know, nothing to see here, no reckless abandonment of responsibility, no looting of national treasure went on here, no, sirree, just move on, go back to your homes, all is well) I would very much like to see a "Move back". Let's go back to the rule of law, accountability for those who did wrong, punishment for the real, large-scale criminals proportional to the heinous nature of their crimes.

No, we're not going to "move on". We're not going to forget the r*a*p*e, take a shower, and pretend it didn't happen. I sincerely hope we're going to do what's RIGHT.

And I'd really like to know what you consider a "promise"? If GWB's "promises" are the kind of thing you're looking for, I'm sure we could accommodate you. Care for a bottle of Arpege?

[leopoldmozart]

Should we just "move on" after all crimes? "Hey, the kid I m*u*r*d*ered is dead. Can't we just move on?" Is that the way a society of laws works?

[cayuse]

I agree with his sloppy ability of words if not conversation itself. WORDS of Bush are important to us all

What scares me more is the legacy of his WORDS. I do not give him but those speech writers and I large staffs of WORD CREATORS the credit. This we must OVERCOME. To end the Bush legacy and hidden agenda's we must stop this WORD MANIPULATION business manufacture and marketing.

WORDS LIKE:

1) ENERGY INDEPENDENCE means a foreign policy and not GREEN or ALTERNATIVE ENERY
2) DEATH TAX means RICH can pass their wealth and control ON INDEFINATELY
3) ENTITLEMENTS means government is entitled to take your SSA CASH DEPOSITS away.
4) BRINGING FREEDOM means Imperialism to ATTACK, OCCUPY and CLAIM other countries assets
5) FREE ELECTIONS means having the Supreme Court rule it is up to the states, but time ran out
6) TERRORISM means people with no means cannot fight for freedom that is reserved for nation states
7) PATRIOTISM means blindly following nationalism and not living the principles of our constitution

[jacobomorales]

excelente, very good said...a total failure as a human ......

[Carlton Jordan]

absolutely correct.

[swellsoire]

Bush should get credit for the fact that we haven't suffered another terrorist attack since 9/11. He should also be credited for preventing a giant spider invasion, an asteroid impact, and waking Godzilla.

[cayuse]

Did he not part the SEA for the rich, but close it for the poor

[twgbonehead]

And the only commercial airliner ever to have to do an emergency landing in the Hudson where everybody survived, also happened on Bush's nap, errr, watch.

Bush has often been criticized for not caring about the middle and lower class, but regulations and policies implemented during his reign DEFINITELY protected these vulnerable people from the damage done by Madoff, right? So he's got that going for him, too!

[cayuse]

Let's see backrupt laws

1. Students cannot go backrupt on students loans
2. People killed by corporations who know they were killing them can not be sued

[bobdob]

If Obama could only learn to precede words beginning with a vowel with "an", rather than "a", he'd be the perfect American president.

[jeamar]

Yeah, and if this is the only thing you can find to complain about, than you are in for an amazing 4 years!! I am actually looking forward to being able to watch a news conference, instead of cringing every time our President opens his mouth.

[SSN688]

4 years? Don't you mean 8? There is no one even remotely competent on the horizon in the GOP

[bobdob]

Four years? You don't have much faith in the guy, do you? You don't have much of a sense of humor either. I was joking.

[peorgietirebiter]

I'm told Mr. Obama will be making a formal address on Tuesday. Until then you might try being a little more tolerant and little less of an a**hole.

[AliLiz]

Jan 20th will be a day we can all celebrate with joy...happiness for many reasons and one reason is the GW is gone!

[Riani]

I can't help but feel sorry for Bush. Imagine you had the opportunity, for 8 years, to change the world. To make a difference. To create a legacy that your children and their children, and their children, for generations to come, could be proud of. And this is how you squandered that once in a lifetime, one in trillion, opportunity. I would simply crawl into a comfortable chair on my porch, and nevermore allow myself to be seperated from my drug of choice.

[returnofthejedi]

I feel a little more for the peoples lives and opportunites he has destroyed with his willful ignorance. In just 8 yrs this man, his cronies, and neo conservatism[ Fascism) have bankrupted the wealthiest nation on earth. Not to mention the damage done to our military preparedness. Let's hope that another nation like China, or North Korea does not decide to get aggresive any time soon.

[whatsthatsound]

Let's not forget how he "disassembled" the country.

[Salz08]

I agree, Norah. It really ought to be a word. As a definition, we can just put his picture next to it. All the defining information one would need.