Stop Whining About Bush Failures
The time has come for President Barack Obama and his Democratic loyalists to stop whining about inheriting all the problems the Bush administration dumped on us.
They knew that from the get-go and most intelligent Americans accept it as fact. So, let’s get on to governing us out of this economic and geo-political hornets’ nest.
Obama himself not only artfully slurred President Bush during his inaugural speech but in recent weeks has ratchet up the rhetoric. One can hardly blame him as the White House digs and discovers the extent of the economic recession and apparent abuses of executive power involving national security.
The electorate last Nov. 4 essentially handed Obama a broom and told him to sweep clean the mess before him. That he is doing. But, we don’t need to be reminded of it every swish.
I appreciate Obama’s skills setting up Bush as the bad guy because if his domestic and foreign policy shifts succeed they will need to find room on Mt. Rushmore to carve his face.
But what he is doing to Bush’s legacy is not unlike what his people have done by painting the unpopular (polls, not audience) conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the leader of the Republican Party: Creating a straw man.
The executive orders overturning Bush policies and new laws signed by Obama are too fresh to pass judgment. Where Obama has failed so far is articulating a strategy for financial institutions to recover and start lending that would open the floodgates to new private investment in the stock market. We saw a trickle of hope last week as stocks rallied four consecutive days but there is no empirical evidence Obama policy had anything to do with it.
The lead on-line story in Saturday’s Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031303486.html addresses the subject.
Cross posted on The Remmers Report
12 Responses to “Stop Whining About Bush Failures”
And there is no empirical evidence that any Obama policy or speech had anything with it going down either. Ha has not been in office long enough for any of his policies (good or bad ) to take effect.
The dow dropped from a peak of 14K to approximately 8K before Obama took office, if Republicans are going to blame Obama for a 1000 drop since he has been in office, why shouldn't he blame Bush & his policies for the preceding 6000 point drop?
I think President Obama would stop having to blame Bush if the Republicans would stop blaming him. But when the Republicans complain about deficit spending, the debt, etc President Obama should point out their hypocrisy that they supported the positions that made his actions necessary.
From what I've seen there are many folks who are a little too anxious to brush aside where all this came from, perhaps hoping that accountability for our current state can be placed squarely on Obama. Needless to say, that would be disingenuous, not to mention a precursor to history revision. Obama should be held accountable for the results of what HE creates and is responsible for, and so long as that isn't being used as an exuse, and so long as there are people who need to be reminded of the difference between inheriting something and creating something, I have no problem with the lesson being repeated as necessary.
It seems perfectly reasonable, not to mention good politics, for the president to articulate why his pursuit of policies that many will find distasteful is necessary. This is particularly true in our current political climate, with its deep ideological divisions and constant partisan punditry, which is virtually certain to mount offensives against even the least of his initiatives. Finally, perhaps for those with some interest in discounting the role of the Bush administration in delivering us to the edge of this abyss, it is an uncomfortable conversation, but for most of us it is, not whining, and indeed, is useful to be reminded of the sometimes problematic route we took to get here as part of constructing a roadmap to get us out.
Nobody is whining about Bushco “failures”. They are purposeful about their calculated sabotage of our Constitution and economy. “Failure” assigns a sort of innocence to the treason, when really there is no innocence where Bushco is concerned.
Further, anyone advocating “moving on” without setting specific wrongs to rights in a public setting also advocates the glossing over or suppression of crimes against our nation. And in my neck of the woods we call that “accessory-after-the-fact.”
I think Obama should stop blaming the economy on Bush just as soon as the media stops blaming it on Obama.
Personally, I could care less who is to blame. I do agree with Sil that it is worthwhile to understand how we got here, but at the same time I just don't think assigning blame is going to fix anything. If I just lost my house, my job, or my way of life, arguing about why I'm in that position isn't going to get me out of it. Its time for solutions, and picking fights with news commentators or talk show hosts isn't fixing anything. I think Don Quijote above put it well, Obama simply hasn't had his policies in the mill long enough for us to determine whether they are working or not.
Jeremy, did you write a similar article during the 8 years the bushes blamed a bunch of their problems on the dems? Just asking.
Why is it that, this is the first president in history, who cannot talk about what happened before his presidency? It would be a different if Obama was making this stuff up; but I mean seriously. I am tired of hearing people say this, can you write about something, new and refreshing, you write this is, as if it is some new political phenomenon.
I 100% disagree. And I thought the WaPo article on this was borderline gossip column…for the Washington Times. Obama has not actually blamed Bush any more for what he inherited than he did during the campaign. Perhaps the only reason people think he ramped up criticism in the last month is that Obama was respectful enough to Bush between the election and Inauguration Day so as to make the transition smooth. But make no mistake: Obama knows quite well how we got into this mess and was not shy about mentioning it on the campaign trail. As the vapid chattering class at Fox News starts “wondering” if Obama can be blamed for the continued downturn in the economy, it only makes sense for Obama to remind folks that history did not begin on Inauguration Day.
Oh, we're not into blaming anyone. More like prosecuting them. There is a difference. Prosecution not only punishes those responsible, factually, for a wrong done (Tort), but when that tort is intentional, it also shows prospective potential future criminals that there will be a price to pay if they consider the same path.
I think this second thing is more important to demonstrate with Bushco..
[...] the Iraq war, Obama Would Like To Remind You That The Economic Downturn Is All Bush’s Fault, Stop Whining About Bush Failures, and Core Values [...]
[...] Remmers at The Moderate Voice says to stop whining about [...]