October 28, 2004

• POLITICS AGAIN

  It seems to me that this final push in the presidential election campaign has obscured some of what a presidential election is all about.
  The man in office, if he is standing for re-election, must be responsible for and defend his decisions and actions for the past four years. His opponents must try to persuade the voters that they can do better.
  Bush has not defended his administration's record very well, choosing instead to attack his major opponent. There is a reason for this, most of the past four years has been pretty much a disaster:
  1. the economy has taken some major hits which the present administration not only has not addressed, but has been partially responsible for. While a tax cut seems like a nice idea, running a huge deficit means that the government is in direct competition with the private sector for available funds (deficit means the government has to borrow), thus undoing any economic benefit the tax cut might have had.
  2.The position of the U.S. as a world leader has been materially weakened by the poorly thought out handling of the Terrorist problem. There are now apparently more active terrorists than there were before 9/11. Except for Afghanistan, the U.S. has been ineffective and has lost the confidence and support of many of our allies.
  3.The Iraq War. Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time, wrong (apparently no realistic) plans for peaceful transition.
  4. The quality of life in the U.S. How many of us are better off now than we were four years ago?

  It is unlikely that Bush's opponents (any of them) could have done worse.

  • 9:58 am
  • 3 Comments