Opinion Forum

The BBC on Bush

January 18th, 2009

The BBC can never be accused of objectivity where President Bush is concerned. That’s why I was a bit surprised to see a recent BBC webpage that contains several links to articles about Bush that aren’t entirely negative. The first part deals with Bushisms–funny things the President has said along the way. Such as:

For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times.

Hmm. What about that little kerfuffle we had with the Japanese in the 1940s? That’s the one known for the most devastating air attack in history. B-29s bombed Tokyo during the night of March 9-10, 1945, resulting in about 1,000,000 total casualties and 100,000 or more deaths. There was also the matter of a couple of atom bombs, neither of which caused as much death or destruction.

The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorise himself.

Had to think about that one for a minute. But then, maybe siring two evil offspring like Uday and Qusay would qualify as self-terrorism.

Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?

Indeed.

It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it.

Well, I guess that’s the first clue….

Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN’s aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country.

No comment.

It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber.

Who could disagree with that?

I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.

Including himself, perhaps.

Well, I guess we can move on, now that we’ve had our fun with the President. But before we get too smug about it, maybe we should think about what it would be like to have a hostile press listening to every word we say, hoping we’ll say something stupid. Doesn’t apply to me, of course; I never say stupid things.

The BBC webpage has links to other stories about President Bush, and considering the source, they’re fairly reasonable. One is Rating the Bush Presidency; another is Did Bush Cause Financial Crisis? Interesting reading, and not as ponderous and self-important as a lot of stuff being written these days.

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Bush
Categories: History, Media, Politics | Comments (3) | Home

3 Responses to “The BBC on Bush”

Kevin | January 19th, 2009 at 1:53 am

Well said, Tom.

God knows I’ve been a harsh critic of Bush. And I’ve heard few criticisms of him which I couldn’t at least partially agree with. But these last few weeks where he’s been opening up in interviews and the presidential historians have been parcing his mistakes and accomplishments alike… one salient point has been made loud and clear: None of us has a clue what kind of pressures a President – even a poor one – has to deal with 24/7.

While I retain the right – I’d argue it’s also a responsibility – to disagree with my president, I’m under no delusion that I could necessarily do any better at it if it were my burden to bear.

Our greatest asset as a representative demoncracy is also arguably our greatest liability: backseat drivers are necessary for the system to function properly.

doris | January 19th, 2009 at 7:58 am

Yeah right,Tom.I beg to differ…. We do say stupid things,but we aren’t the Pres,if we were we would hope we would,for once at least,listen to our teacher wife and learn to speak more eloquently.Not to impress,but he does represent all of us,and I must say,he made us all look stupid to the rest of the world.Thank God he’s gone.

Tom | January 19th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

Kevin, you and I are pretty much on the same track. No matter who the president may be, and whether I voted for him or not, I support him and respect him. Undoubtedly some parts of the job are pretty cool, but I can’t imagine what that kind of responsibility would be like. However, I’ve never felt any obligation to agree with everything a president says or does. Maybe us back-seat drivers are helpful to him. All presidents have had critics, even the best. Just look at the crap Lincoln had to put up with, especially from jerks like General McClellan.

Doris, eveything the world knew about Bush was told to them by the media. Just think how much better off we would be if they had been fair and honest in their reporting.