January 24, 2007

IMPEACH BUSH


IMPEACH CHENEY

BUSH THE DESTROYER

Last night George W. Bush gave the annual State of the Union speech in which he tried to put a positive gloss on his despicable and failed administration. Bush liked to claim he was "uniter, not a divider" once upon a time. He's a uniter; he's uniting the country and the world against his administration. But it doesn't stop him. He compounds a terrible war in Iraq by sending even more troops to be slaughtered. This commentary by Marie Cocco is at www.smirkingchimp.com:

The truest and most tragic measure of Bush's continued power is the arrival in Iraq of more American troops, sent into the teeth of a beastly civil war. By defying the considered, bipartisan advice of the Iraq Study Group; by ignoring the results of the November election, in which voters demanded a change of course; by challenging Congress to a constitutional showdown over war-making powers, Bush has all but declared the voters to be irrelevant.

It is much more shocking than Gingrich's preening, and so much more dangerous.

The earnest hope for change is symbolized by the start of the 2008 presidential race, with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama poised to become the first African-American to put himself in serious contention for the Oval Office, and the entry of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the only woman in history to have a genuine chance to become president. There is palpable drama and energy in these developments, manifestations of a deep yearning for something new. You want, right now, to move quickly on to this new political terrain — but we can't.

There is no early out from the Bush presidency. The immediate challenge is to find a way not just to muddle through but to begin repairing the damage.