In a famous zinger, author and biographer Irving Stone once noted, "'Calvin Coolidge believed the least government was the best government; he aspired to become the least president the country had ever had; he attained that desire."Well, look out, Zombie Coolidge, because George W. Bush is giving you a run for the money. More and more, it's looking like Dubya might wind up winning not just the title of Worst President Ever, but Least President Ever too. Craig Crawford at Congressional Quarterly makes the case:
With a new Congress that’s run by Democrats, a restive public that’s pining for change and a government in Iraq that’s descending into chaos, the way forward in Washington might not include George W. Bush.Daaaaaaamn.
Despite the power he has to ramp up his use of the veto, and his tenacious hold on his powers as commander in chief, Bush faces a tough challenge to remain relevant in the waning 24 months of his presidency. Indeed, if not for his war-making clout, this president might be the lamest lame duck ever.
There was something almost sad about Bush putting his own name on an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal that laid out his legislative agenda on the eve of the formal Democratic takeover of Capitol Hill. Clearly gone are the days when Vice President Dick Cheney could use a private meeting with Republican lawmakers to set the congressional priorities list. Now, it seems, the president is positioning himself as just another spectator on the outskirts of power — firing off letters to the editor. Perhaps he should start his own blog.
While I'm wary about writing off the president just yet -- as many did with Clinton after the 1994 midterms, only to eat crow later on -- I am looking forward to many months of The Decider stamping his feet like a spoiled yuppie kid and demanding that everyone do as he says.
(Thanks to Crooks and Liars for the link.)
4 comments:
I suppose Bush can fill the empty hours reading other people's e-mail and snail mail. I'm sure Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama's will be of particular interest.
Then, there's plenty of work to be done creating signing statements. F'rexample:
"Uh, yeah, let's raise the minimum wage . . . except for people who work for big corporations or who receive any kind of public assistance."
Last but not least, he's likely to spend plenty of time talking to his lawyers.
In my head, I picture a panic-stricken Administration in shambles. I can't think of any time in my own political career that a Prez has "written" an Op-Ed piece. Dirty Dick is too old to care. Rove is still under a rock crying. Some intern says "hey, you should write an op-ed."
He was kidding.
Bush claims he never reads the papers, so the intern probably had to explain first what an op-ed piece even was.
"Dirty Dick is too old to care."
Would that it were true but it's not. We may soon have an Iran war and then a whole-Mideast war as proof that it's not.
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