Friday, November 30, 2012

GEORGE W. BUSH: LEGACY

Bush during his tenure has made many mistakes, but that doesn’t give us a chance to write him off

It was followed by the tragic day of 9/11, which no American can ever forget in his life. Bush at first came out as a hero, with support and in full confidence, showing that he was in full command of things. But his later actions were said to be the outcome of how dumb and undecided he had been.

His war on terror and his actions in Afghanistan at first bore fruits, as Afghanistan shifted from an anti-American to pro-American government. But his forces have still not been able to nab Osama bin Laden – the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack. He tried to redeem himself by attacking Iraq, but unfortunately the entire episode fell flat on his face and instead of becoming a hero, he was vehemently criticised for what is called the worst decision of his tenure. Blaming Saddam Hussein for storing ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and then forging a war on Iraq, even though the UN was against it, showed his arrogance and stubborn attitude. It costed America heavily – both in terms of money as well as people. But the biggest harm of the war on Iraq was it tagged America as the greedy superpower of the new world, with no aim other than to put its stamp on everything and then force the world to go its way.

Uncannily, even nature played its part to show how bad Bush’s administration has been. Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast, which has not been built yet. Bush’s second tenure was worse than his first one. People were unhappy and his approval ratings hovered around 30%. Meanwhile, two-thirds of the American people disapproved of the job he was doing in Washington. Americans were feeling the heat of the upcoming crisis. Oil was costlier, housing prices were constantly going down; healthcare had became costlier as the Bush administration had turned the control of healthcare in the hands of greedy pharmaceutical companies. He turned his back to the obvious – ignored climate changes, obstructed efforts to clean air and water so that corporations could earn higher profits. It was during Bush''s tenure that American workers faced their rights being assaulted and were stopped from forming unions – all this to ensure that corporations could see their profits rising. Then the sub-prime crisis happened and America lost its capitalist model.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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