Bush – Page 2 – Hank Kalet

The snarker in chief

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It is difficult to believe that this snarky, snotty underachiever actually served as president of the United States for the last eight years.

The end of the malaprop administration

I’ve been thinking about Barack Obama’s decision to have a poet read at his inaugural — about what it means for language and the nation (and not so much about the poet, Elizabeth Alexander, whose work I unfortunately have not read) but was having some difficulty putting it into words. I think this comment from Christian Wiman, the editor of Poetry magazine, in The New York Times sums it up best:

“After eight years of mangled and manipulated language, and the palpable effects of that in the real world, it seems like any gesture toward clarity of expression and dignity of life is welcome,” Christian Wiman, the editor of Poetry magazine, said in an e-mail message.

“In a way, the poem itself is not the point,” Mr. Wiman added. “I would guess that a president-elect decides to have an inaugural poem in the first place not in the hope of commissioning some eternal work of art, but in order to acknowledge that there is an intimate, inevitable connection between a culture’s language and its political life. That Obama wants to make such a gesture seems to me a pure good — for poetry, yes, but also for the country.”

What would Austin Powers think?

I’m not breaking any new ground when I say that shoe-tossing incident in Iraq reminds me of the scene in the first Austin Powers film when Random Task throws a shoe (a la Odd Job and the razor-brimmed hat in Bond) at Powers. “Who throws a shoe?. Honestly.”

Anyway, I saw this game on Rob Tornoe’s blog and had to pass it along. It seems pretty simple: Grab a shoe and toss.

I know that there are many Democrats out there who have been waiting for just this chance. Go for it.

Bush’s bad economic mojo

I’ve heard it said that, more than crafting specific policy, a president’s impact on the economy comes from the confidence he inspires in the country. If citizens can be reassured, then the economy has a better shot at bouncing back.

I’m not sure I believe that, but if we want to apply this notion to the events of the last couple of weeks, the cratering (the media’s new favorite word) of the stock market and public confidence in the economy at the same time that the Bush administration has attempted to calm nerves just shows how irrelevant the president (pictured above — White House photo by David Bohrer — during his Friday address on the economy) has become.

Read this from Dan Froomkin, which I think says it a lot better:

When it comes to the current financial crisis, it’s become pretty clear that an appearance by President Bush doesn’t calm nerves. It rubs them raw.

With global markets in a state of panic, with the world talking about the end of American capitalism, with ordinary citizens watching in despair as their savings vanish, we could all use some reassurance.

Had the president this morning announced something new, specific and verifiable, it might have helped. Most economists are persuaded that the semi-nationalization of American banks through direct infusions of capital is our best bet at this point. And the administration is reportedly working on a plan to do just that.

But today all Bush gave us was limp cheerleading, vaguely assuring us he’s doing everything possible.

The president seems checked out. His approval ratings are in the toilet. His credibility is shot. He’s arguably responsible for this mess in the first place. And his presence and his words have led to more fear and panic, not less.

Jan. 20 cannot come fast enough.

Quote of the day: Thanking Bush

I know readers of this blog will be surprised by the title of this blog, but the quotation from a piece by Jacob Heilbrunn in Sunday’s Week In Review section of The New York Times on President George W. Bush’s impact on the conservative movement should explain:

“Bush was never a conservative. He’s the guy responsible for blowing up the movement.”

— Michael D. Tanner
senior fellow at the Cato Institute
author of “Leviathan on the Right,”