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Manhattan Diary by Cahir O'Doherty

George W. Bush's legacy: now anyone thinks they can be president

Posted on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 09:27 AM

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George W Bush, in between bouts of clearing scrub in Texas, must be wondering what his legacy will be. I think I have the answer.

Thanks to his presidency, and the utterly lost decade he presided over, America has now reached the point where anyone - anyone - thinks they'd make a fine president.

How else to explain the clown car of 2012 Republican presidential contenders currently running? These are not world class political operatives by any yard stick - most of them are not even sophisticated enough to head up a suburban Rotary Club - but they'll probably be the last to know.

Why? Because, thanks to the Bush years - where bombast replaced brains and soundbites replaced strategy - people like Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain can now look in their mirrors and see what no one else does: competence.

Call it the real Bush legacy.

There was a time in American politics when no millionaire politician would have dreamed of blaming the unemployed for their misfortune. There was a time when an audience would have booed hearing that sentiment expressed, rather than cheered.

But last night the mean minded smallness of right wing ideological extremism was on full display at the Republican debate in Las Vegas. It was a vision for the future so narrow you can sum it up in three words: I've got mine.

America used to be much better than this. We used to praise ordinary workers, not insult them for lack of industry. We used to want them to succeed, not remove every social net that helped to raise them up in the first placed.

We used to care about the country as well as ourselves.

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26 Comments

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eiriamach | Oct 21, 2011, 09:15 AM EDT

To my thinking, the most important point Cahir makes is about the audiences for these debates. The unthinking eeejits who applaud Perry's pride in having the best state record on executions, who welcome Cain's innovative approach to shifting still more tax burden onto the middle class, and who boo a gay soldier fighting dangerous wars-- there is a mob mentality at work in those audiences. It reminds me, actually, of lynch mob fervor. Did they elect Obama only out of revenge for Bush's destruction of the economy? Will they vote, ironically, for Romney because they resent Obama's health care legislation? American voters seem to have become reactive to what they regard as past failures rather than proactive in the interest of better politics. They consult each other's feelings and ideologies instead of reading the record and analyzing it. The Occupy Wall Street protestors seem to be the exception. I am intrigued to see how much these independent thinkers will teach voters about how to evaluate political decisions before the next election time. They are the polar opposite of the Republican Debate audiences.

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seanomelbourne | Oct 20, 2011, 07:38 PM EDT

Reminds me of a song my gran use to sing "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts here they are standing in a row"

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Rebelforce | Oct 20, 2011, 03:51 PM EDT

If they ever compile these republican debates into a documentary I've got the perfect title: Ron Paul and the seven nincompoops.

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jerrydonovan | Oct 20, 2011, 11:13 AM EDT

I am personally thank ful for this group of republican candidates.Why?Because they have broken Ringling bros.Barnum and Bailey's monopoly of the circus.Watching and hearing these candidates makes me think that I am at a clown's convention.

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maireadinmelb | Oct 20, 2011, 02:49 AM EDT

Most intelligent article ever written on this site and might I add probably the most accurate! This millionaires cannot see that their fortunes were made from the blood sweat and tears of hard working people!

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KMcSinger | Oct 20, 2011, 12:32 AM EDT

Sweetly put!

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jamthecat | Oct 19, 2011, 11:59 PM EDT

I despise Bush, and I can see your poing, Cahir...but the truth is, it used to be that just about anyone COULD become president in this country. C'mon, Harry Truman was a failed haberdasher who went into politics because he couldn't make a living any other way, and he turned out to be a great president. But then...he was intelligent and a real man, not a two-bit wannabe who used his daddy's buddies to pay his way through life, like Bush-baby. Maybe that is his legacy...that even the presidency can be bought for any fool who wants it and has the right friends in the right places.

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hollabackgurl | Oct 19, 2011, 11:35 PM EDT

You have a nerve calling anyone an idiot, JMFgalway, when it appears you're only semi-literate. And like a lot of conservatives you seem to think insulting people is a stand in for a persuasive argument, but you're wrong about that too.

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JMFgalway | Oct 19, 2011, 11:16 PM EDT

O'Doherty is an idiot. The other comments about Haliburton and Prescription drug are off base. talk about corruption-Solyndra-Foreign Donors-Tony Resko-the list goes on of Democratic corruption. The Prescription Drug benefit has bot contribute dto teh deficit unlike OBAMACARE will. Also what the hell were Obama's credentials before he becasme Prseident. guilty feeling white liberals in teh media refused to do their job and became cheerleaders for the Messiah.

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AengusOg | Oct 19, 2011, 10:43 PM EDT

think before you write. Your obvious Republican bashing agenda has obviously blinded you to the fact that the paper thin Barack Obama is now President. As for the selfish Republicans, check out his and Michelle's charitable contributions on their pre-Presidential tax returns.

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bunkerisland | Oct 19, 2011, 08:56 PM EDT

Quite a powerful and accurate assumption about the current condition in the States. "Markist Obama"? Who is the fool?

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MotherIrish | Oct 19, 2011, 07:39 PM EDT

Ahh yes -- that is how we got the Marxist Obama!!!

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seanomelbourne | Oct 19, 2011, 05:59 PM EDT

The teahadist believe they have a "field of dreams" unfortunatley the majority think they have a field of clowns.

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Murph46 | Oct 19, 2011, 03:49 PM EDT

B.Husein O'Bama is proof anyone can!

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just4fun | Oct 19, 2011, 03:47 PM EDT

If this group of possible runners for the white house are following after Reagan then it doesn't say much for any of them considering the guy had Alzheimers. Still like they say anyone can run for president.

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