Dubya is bad news. He can destroy the international economy with his policies. Take the soft-wood lumber we Canadians sell to the US. Now, I don't know much on the subject, but Bush demanded that we sell it to them "their way" (I think), but its our lumber.
And then there's all this ENRON mess.
And right now he is going after 3rd world countries (Iraq), but there's still the Isreali-Palestinien conflict going on. And we still aren't done with bin Laden.
He pulled the States out of the Kyoto treaty, and is really making greenhouse gases out of control. Plus the missile-defence system, which will start a new arms race.
Bush is bad news.
If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.
I think it might be fairer to say that his team is bad news. Bush is a consummate politician very much in charge of a group of people he relies upon to know what he doesn't--which happens to be quite a lot in his current office, as his entire previous experience in politics was on a state rather than national or international level. IMO, he typically appoints ideologues who are by no means stupid people, but attempt to fit facts to their perception of the world as such people are wont to do. This can actually achieve a great deal in a specific department of government, but when it's applied across the board, a hard-nosed, doctrinaire approach to government can severely hamper a nation--or a world.
I also question the way decisions have been made without discussion among the three branches of government and input from the public. The executive branch has grasped for itself the reigns of control on a number of matters that are already bringing it into conflict with the judiciary and the legislative branches. It's my own personal feeling that he's even alienating the core conservative group within the Republican party, by his attempts to bully Congress; and one of these attempts, its known, did backfire and lose the GOP their control of the Senate. I don't think they'll be so quick to forgive him for that. If he can't do anything creative and useful for the economy by November and the Republicans lose the House as well, Bush may find himself abandoned by his own party in all but name until the next election rolls around.
To the Righteous belong the fruits of violent victory. The rest of us will have to settle for warm friends, warm lovers, and a wink from a quietly supportive universe.
I think Dubya started life as a "throw-away" candidate. Going into the election, I believe that the Republicans thought that any one they put forward would be crushed under the onslaught of the seemingly-indestructible Clinton-Gore machine.
But lo and behold, Gore's political managers ran a horribly inefficient campaign, succumbed to infighting with Bill Bradley and let the Republicans dictate the pace and issues of the race. Instead of harping on "it's the economy, stupid", Gore et al let the Republicans turn the race into one about character, which after the Clinton impeachment, was not one the Democrats were in a position to win. Instead of showing off pictures of Gore as a Vietnam War veteran and questioning Dubya's status as a draft dodger (Air National Guard? C'mon! At least Clinton had the balls to declare his opposition to the war and protest it).
Gore started late, failed to consolidate power early and got beat by a seemingly-illiterate backwater redneck from Texas because he played Dubya's game instead of making Dubya play his. The race was Gore's to lose, and if not for Katherine Harris in Florida and the United States Supreme Court handing the election to Dubya, he would have been president.
The saving grace for the Democrats is that it unless the economy turns around in a big way in the next two years, Dubya is going to get himself ousted from office for failing to make people feel better where it counts: in the wallet.
Jesus saves! And takes half damage!
If brute force doesn't work, you're not using enough.
