An Oral History... A Must Read

One of my brothers asked me "Why was I going on so much about the Bush White House ,the Iraq War and the terrible job that Dubya and Company did" ? "That was then ...so what does that have to do with Now?" It is really a continuing argument with left verses right and disagreements over our newest President ...the one with the Brains. It will take brains, patience and our support to right the wrongs of this past Administration.

My concerns are that actions taken by the Bush administration have set our country up so that the financial and geopolitical challenges we face are massive. At the very beginning of the Bush first term the now famous tax break was passed that has turned out to be a real loser. Now that we throw the number Trillion around like the old Billion I can see it pretty clearly. It is clear that a reduction of federal revenue of 1.3 Trillion ( the amount of the Bush tax break) has loomed large in causing our deficit to grow as much as it has. especially when combined with the Bush unbridled Iraq war spending. Those Bush idiots thought the Iraq war would cost 50 to 60 Billion dollars which, to date, has cost is 3 Trillion. I call it the spread. Take the amount spent ( 3 trillion and add it to the amount not collected ( 1.3 trillion) and you have an amount equal to 4.3 trillion.

So Dubya and company have spent or not collected all of this money.What have they accomplished? One of the most critical challenges we face today is the fact that Iran wants to go nuclear. By taking away Saddam we have created a vacuum where there was hegemony. Saddam used to be a foil to the Iran. Now that Iran is pursuing a bomb we have to move forward with all kinds of diplomacy and power to counter them because an Iran with a Big Bomb is not acceptable ....especially if you are Israel.

My opinion of this administration has changed over time . I supported Dubya for a very long time. Partly because we are at war and partly because I was using blinders and not paying enough attention to the facts. There are a number of good books available that clearly spell out the roles played by Bush , Cheney and Rumsfeld but today I am including a link to a nice article in Vanity Fair....."An Oral History". It is a little long but does an excellent job at addressing the high points of just when and where these three just blew it. From Dubya's lack of intellectual curiosity, Cheney's controlling bureaucratic machinations and Rummy's cryptic self centered management style this group created a real mess. So much for all that great experience.