On September 13, to the astonishment of both the public and political pundits, George W. Bush said he was sorry. More precisely, the President admitted his own culpability for the bureaucratic, economic, and social mayhem that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. “To the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right,” he said, “I take full responsibility.” Americans have learned to take a Pr...
...ery of that earlier day in mind—of Uncle Sam and war bonds and victory gardens and the like—that so many Americans seemed to yearn for a summons to service and national engagement in the weeks following the attacks. President Bush and the people around him recognized that yearning, but at first they seemed to have trouble finding the answer to satisfy it. In the face of unprecedented national calamity, it was a tad disconcerting to find the presi...
The Onion recently ran an article headlined “85 Percent of Public Believes Bush’s Approval Rating Fell Last Month.” The story discussed a made-up Gallup poll that measured how many Americans “strongly believe that the American people no longer strongly believe that Bush” is doing a good job. The Onion’s satire demonstrates the tenuous position polls hold in our society: simultaneously mocked and worshipped. Yet opinion polls, despite their short...
A great deal has been written on President Obama’s continuation of many of the Bush administration’s policies in regards to terrorism. Growth in the size and operational tempo of special warfare units, the extensive use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) against terrorist targets worldwide, and the National Security Agency’s (NSA) ongoing warrantless surveillance programs – all of these began with President Bush. That Obama has not only ma...
Illustration by Clara Bryant The idea of ownership has had particular appeal for Americans ever since Thomas Jefferson envisioned a country full of independent yeoman farmers. It was therefore unsurprising that President Bush made an “ownership society” the domestic centerpiece of his reelection campaign. In his convention speech, he said that such a society would inspire “greater opportunity, more freedom, and more control over your own life.”...
...totally reactive. While Democrats need to talk better (or, according to some, straighter) on everything from gay marriage to tax cuts, all of the major recrimination theories— from endemic laundry listlessness to letting the Bushies set the frame of the debate to “moral values” to not fighting back against Swift Boat Vets—ultimately stem from the big unspoken problem: when it comes to the politics of foreign policy, the party of Roosevelt is dec...
A little problem with language in the past In 2006, President Bush delivered a speech unveiling the National Security Language Initiative. Delivering the speech to a crowd that included then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, President Bush began in a lighthearted manner. “I’ve had a little problem with the language in the past,” he joked, “so—i...
Americans across the political spectrum have attacked George W. Bush’s administration for creating a double standard with respect to sensitive information getting leaked to the press. In February, former Congressman Porter Goss, the Director of the CIA, published an Op-Ed in the New York Times warning of the threat such leaks pose to national security. “Those who choose to bypass the law and go straight to the press are not noble, honorable, or...
...ully support the Iraq war resolution, which divided the party and was a major reason for the GOP’s success in the 2002 midterm elections. They watched Tom Daschle, the Senate Minority Leader, vote in favor of the much-loathed Bush energy bill even as the rest of his delegation fought to block it (Daschle felt he had to support the bill to ensure his own upcoming reelection in South Dakota). And, to top it all off, Democrats have seen their congre...
...rise —Muslim Republicans exist. Columbia Political Science Professor Robert Shapiro notes that these assumptions are rooted in liberal attitudes, rather than an analysis of voting trends and the motives behind them. President Bush garnered support from Republican Muslims in the 2000 elections by appealing to their strong family and social values, and through his then-Muslim-friendly immigration and foreign relations policies. In 2000, the Muslim...
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