The Legacy

George W. Bush leaves office on January 20 as one of the most vilified presidents in American history. He is responsible for the condition the country is in.

Here is Bush's legacy, in part:

He took the nation to a war of choice under false pretenses. He violated his oath to defend the Constitution by illegally spying on Americans, and by kidnapping and imprisoning men without charges or a speedy trial. He embraced torture as an interrogation tactic and turned the world's champion of human dignity into an outlaw nation. He watched as a major American city went under water. He was at the helm as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression took hold. He squandered a unique opportunity to unite the country and even the world behind a shared agenda after 9/11. He subverted science in order to champion ideology. And he deliberately politicized the federal government, leaving behind a broken government.

I have heard the lame rationalization that "He prevented another attack."  Bunk.  The only attack that we know of for sure is the one he failed (though he had been warned) to prevent. And since when do the terrorists operate on a schedule?  The two most recent foreign attacks on our soil were in 1993 and 2001.   

Finally, as we remember this laundry list of failures, let's not forget the lockstep culpability of the Republican members of Congress.  For six years, they watched these rotted seeds being planted and did nothing as the plant grew.  They did it because they let loyalty to party trump responsibility to the nation.