in which Bush was declared the winner of an election he had lost
No, in an election he won.
but the alacrity with which Americans rsurrendered their birthright of yeoman liberties
Surrendering liberties is a real concern, but it has no special connection to Bush, its been happening in many ways at least since FDR. Obama is accelerating the trend.
in which unscrupulous bankers and financiers were deregulated
No they where always heavily regulated, and there was no significant relevant deregulation. Also the regulations played their role in causing the problem, as did other federal intervention, along with unscrupulous, and more commonly just foolish people in the financial markets.
The Iraq War, which the US illegally launched a war of aggression
Illegally doesn't even mean much, there is no world government to impose laws over the US. As for war of aggression, it was no such thing Iraq started the conflict back in the 1990, it lost, agreed to a cease fire, and then didn't keep the cease fire terms.
for the sake of opening the Iraqi oil markets to US hydrocarbon firms
Nonsense. Concern for WMD, concern for the threat to the neighboring countries, and desire to spread democracy in the middle east where all real reasons, unlike, or at worst much more than, the desire for oil company profits.
Re: Afghanistan
its neglect of civilian reconstruction
There was no such neglect, significant resources were put in to reconstruction.
its failure to finish off al-Qaeda
This is technically right, in that Al-Qaeda is not finished, but its not a real failure, Al-Qaeda is weakened and isn't the type of group that we would reasonably expect to be finished off, at least not for decades, not matter what methods the US attempted in the effort.
and the massive failure of the Bush administration to come to the aid of one of America's great cities
There was no such massive failure "to come to the aid of". The aid was mismanaged, but it occurred in a massive way.
But note that its powers were never used against the oligarchs
Probably because their isn't a real oligarchy in the US. If you mean business interests, government power is used against them all the time, and under Bush things where no different.
but rather deployed to ensure the continued destruction of the labor movement
To the extent government power has been used in regard to labor, its been to support labor. Bush may have done so less than Clinton, and certainly less than Obama is doing so now, but the government during his time in office continued to support unions, not act to attack them.
The environment became more polluted.
By most measures it became less polluted, although that's just continuing an earlier trend not some dramatic turn around because of Bush.
Health and food insecurity increased for ordinary Americans.
Health improved, food insecurity is not significantly worse, and also is a technical term who's actual meaning is not nearly as bad as it sounds.
Health care costs skyrocketed.
Increased, maybe strongly increased, but not "skyrocketed". And the increase is in line with previous trends.
Stagnating worker wages
Measured to before the recession you don't have stagnation, during the recession things got worse but that's the nature of a recession.
In any case wages are only part of employee compensation. Compensation overall increased.
and the emergence of a new monied aristocracy...
...The Reagan and Bush cuts in tax rates on the wealthy have created a dangerous little alien inside our supposedly democratic society, of the super-rich
Nonsense. The super-rich existed before, and will exist after Bush, they are not new, or strongly connected to Bush.
To the extent tax cuts helped and/or incentivised them to create additional wealth that's a plus for the country not a minus.
with their legions of camp followers (sometimes referred to as 'analysts' or 'economists' or 'journalists')
Journalists, even economists, are often "liberal" in the modern American sense of the word, supporting taxes, and government intervention, and moves against the rich.
They are the ones who didn't want a public universal health option, did not want the wars abroad to end abruptly, did not want the Copenhagen Climate convention to succeed.
If so, good for them, that's looking out for the general interest of the country since all of those things would be against the interests of Americans. |
