After my frigid commute this morning, I'm still trying to regain full use of my fingers. So, please excuse any typos.
Obviously, the big news today is the continued decline of the economy. Here's the piece that concerns me, though. Apparently, the Bush White House has decided to sit on their hands until Obama takes office. Via a WaPo article: "Wall Street interpreted Paulson's comments [on not taking action] to mean that the financial rescue is on hold until President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration." Are you kidding me? Paul Krugman points out today that this inaction parallels the post election period in 1932. Nice.
That's not to say that I know exactly what I want Treasury to do. I even find myself going back and forth on the prospect of an auto industry bailout. Sure, it's a large sector of our economy and thousands of jobs are at stake, but Detroit's decisions over the last decade have been bad for business and the planet. I'm loathe to see that rewarded.
Anyhow, this has me further thinking about how awful W.'s presidency has been. Sure, he hasn't let the country descend into Civil War, so Buchanan still probably gets "worst ever." But, I think he's worse than Hoover, because Hoover didn't lead us into a tragically misguided war. And, in my opinion, his legal breaches have been worse than Nixon's. I give Bush second worst president ever.
3 comments:
i have no idea who buchanan is (is that your first choice, dave?). but i know that bush was so cavalierly evil and negligent as president that i want to make him worst ever but then i don't want him to actually "win" anything. so i almost think second worst is more appropriate--since being "second" behind his dad (in power), and jeb (in brains), is what made him into the monster he really is.
Brief glimpse into the mind of s supreme history nerd: James Buchanan. 15th President of the United States, 1857-1860. Basically, he fiddled while the country came apart at the seams. He also inserted himself into the SCOTUS deliberations on the Dredd Scott decision to convince a Northern judge to vote with the majority.
I like your thinking on this Ilsa!
And, if it's ok on Friday to be really puerile (and scatalogical), then #2 is totally befitting W.
Ahem.
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