I don’t blame President Bush for where we are after seven and a half years of his incompetence running a Phony War On Terror. I have always felt that Bush had, at best, an average mind. No intellect to speak of, incurious, he accepted what he saw or was told, unquestioning any part of the situation. And commenters, don’t mention the MBA from Harvard. With the kind of money in the Bush family, a healthy donation will get a whole boatload of MBAs.
What is more telling about his intellect and lack of educational achievement is his inability to get into law school. There are no strings to pull there. Strictly merit. A matrix of ones undergraduate GPA and the score on the LSAT are the factors admissions considers. He could not get into the University of Texas law school.
So I see a mediocre mind that the really smart people knew how to play. Not only Cheney and Rumsfeld, but also Musharraf and the Israeli PMs. Secret prisons, black holes, Office of Legal Counsel memos, well, I just cannot seem to think that Bush was bright enough to put it all together. I’m not saying he is innocent. Just wait till I’m done.
Our current president, Barack Obama, qualifies as a legal scholar. He edited the law review at Harvard, arguably the most prestigious law school in the country. He taught law, albeit part-time, at the University of Chicago. Barak Obama is a lawyer, a member of the bar.
But when I read this
Worse, Obama repeatedly invoked the paradigm of The War on Terror to justify some extreme policies — see my post of earlier today on this practice — beginning with his rather startling declaration that he will work to create a system of “preventive detention” for accused Terrorists without a trial, in order to keep locked up indefinitely people who, in his words, “cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people.” In other words, even as he paid repeated homage to “our values” and “our timeless ideals,” he demanded the power (albeit with unspecified judicial and Congressional oversight) to keep people in prison with no charges or proof of any crime having been committed, all while emphasizing that this “war” will continue for at least ten years.
The opening paragraph of this Washington Post article today says much the same thing:
As a candidate for president, Barack Obama offered himself as a clear alternative to Bush-era anti-terrorism policies. Governing has proven muddier.
This trampling of the Constitution by an MBA – inexcusable.
But this trampling of the Constitution by a member of the bar – unforgivable.
Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, not single-payer health care, not a “two-state solution” in the Middle East, is nearly as important as upholding the United States Constitution. POTUS’ Number One job is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Bush can use the excuse that he was too dumb or that he wasn’t a lawyer.
Obama can offer no excuses. Just results.
Kathy
Liberty Street 