[White House]

Where's Bush?

In thirty years, the majority of society will have a pretty fixed, shared view of President Bush. It's a type of clarity we all pine for in the present, given that we have nothing of a shared or fixed view of him. Actually, we pine for having everyone share our fixed view of him now. (To that end, some of us start blogs, but that's another story...)

Still, there are trends. I was shocked not that the President yesterday acknowledged that his folly had killed off 30,000 Iraqis, but that the news media thought this so noteworthy. The President, offering actual answers to an independent, unselected, unscreened media: this is now news. Surely historians 30 years hence will not look kindly on that?

More broadly, Bush's numbers are sinking again, after a brief, unexplained upturn last month. Whatever it was, it's passed, apparently.

Following that Time article I mentioned yesdterday, David Brooks and Mike Allen were pondering on Meet the Press whether Bush would end up a "great" President in the mold of FDR or Lincoln. This is so inconceivable and bizarre, one doesn't really know where to start. The question isn't whether he'll be regarded as great, but an incompetent nadir among all US presidents. Or a criminal. Just scanning the old memory bank, here are a few things that leap out when you think of this President:

• 9/11
• Tax cuts
• Lies about WMD
• Successful, but forgotten Afghanistan invasion
  
• Incompetent Iraq invasion/occupation
• Secrecy
• Deficits
• Torture
• Leak Scandal
• Incompetent Katrina response
  

The "positives" in the Bush years amount mainly to tax cuts and the wars, none of which history is likely to look kindly on. The tax cuts will surely be reversed and, on balance, be regarded as useless prods to the economy. Little benefit and huge costs. Iraq, even if it turns out to be less catastrophic than we imagine--if we cut and run and forget, say--will be a stain on history. The costs there, too--alienating the globe, expense in lives and dollars, damage to our reputation flowing from the Abu Ghraib debacle--will far outweigh anything positive we may accomplish.

The President's approval rating reflects dawning awareness on this point, but I'm still shocked by how much goodwill he still receives. The nature of being an American right now is not understanding why the rest of the country is barking mad. I guess we all agree on that point, anyway.