George W. Bush's Frightening 2ND TERM

From the National Journal, an article on how radical Bush is. The article itself is relatively neutral and nonpartisanand talks about how Bush is quite radical, but in the last section, it has a historian looking back on the Bush presidency. Quite scary.


Looking Back On Bush

In January 2019, 10 years after George W. Bush left the White House and retired from politics, a noted historian looked back on the Bush presidency. (snip)

"The war in Iraq went well, but the occupation afterward deteriorated into a slow bloodletting. Military personnel disliked and resented serving in Iraq; their families protested; the steady toll of casualties discouraged the public. Re-enlistment rates sagged and the military was pinned down -- all at a time when Bush was multiplying U.S. commitments. By the middle of his second term, American forces were spread thinner and scattered more widely than ever before, but readiness and morale were declining. In 2006, Bush was forced to float the idea of a military draft. His prestige never fully recovered from the ensuing backlash.

"America was weaker, yet the threat had grown. Bush's pre-emption policy was read, first by North Korea and Iran, and then by other troublesome states, as an invitation to arm up with nuclear weapons before Bush could stop them. One member of the 'axis of evil' (Saddam Hussein's Iraq) had been defeated, but by 2006 the other two had become nuclear powers, and other nations were rushing to follow. With so much nuclear proliferation on so many fronts, the administration found itself with few options but to downplay the very threats that it had once painted so starkly. (snip)

"The demands of an overstretched military and an aging population, combined with Bush's tax cuts, had created a permanent fiscal crisis. Nor had the economy grown as hoped. Bush had let federal spending soar, both for the military and for entitlement programs, and the initial stimulative effects were more than offset by the economic drag of a burgeoning public sector. America was not Argentina, but by late in Bush's tenure it was clear that the alternative to becoming Argentina was to raise taxes painfully or cut benefits painfully or, more likely, do both. Voters felt angry and betrayed.

"As Medicare costs soared, it was only a matter of time until Washington imposed price controls on prescription drugs. That was what some liberals had wanted from the start; conservatives had counted on Bush to stand in the way, but the fiscal crisis and predictable demagoguery against 'Big Pharma' made resistance impossible. By the turn of the decade, America had established one of the world's most elaborate systems of drug price controls, and the leadership in pharmaceutical innovation had passed to Asia.

"The Republican coalition, united behind Bush in his days of early success, splintered and then fractured as his fortunes waned. The Reagan-Goldwater wing abhorred the centralization and carefree spending; business deplored the fiscal crisis and price controls; hawks were dispirited by the country's inward turn. Weary voters grew nostalgic for the Clinton era, with its prosperity and moderation. They wanted a change. In the Democratic landslide of 2008, they got it. The window for a Republican political alignment, open when Bush took office, had closed, probably for a generation.

"In 2009, George W. Bush retired to his ranch in Texas. His nation and his party were not reluctant to let him go. Today he lives in relative isolation, a figure in equal parts imposing and tragic. Bush, like Woodrow Wilson and Lyndon Johnson, had aimed high and achieved much. But, like them, he had let his impatience and impetuousness get the better of him. He was energetic and assertive, admirably so, but, like more than a few politicians before him, he mistook boldness for sustainability. He pushed the system and the public too hard. He had campaigned originally as a 'humble' man, and in the end humility was forced upon him."

Pretty bleak future...:) Alas, Babylon......

so the story while interesting is not going to happen.

??

http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2003/0725nj1.htm

here it is -- sorry

:hi:

If he "wins" a second term, there may be no election in 2008 for him to retire from. He will implement (or at least begin) building a space-based system of offensive weaponry. The draft will be reinstated, not debated. At least four, maybe five new Supreme Court appointees will curtail free speech, end the right to choose, and uphold every insane GOP redistricting proposal, ensuring executive, judicial and electoral control of the nation by the DeLays, Cheneys and Scalias of the world for generations to come. Average Americans' right to redress in the courts will end; the insurance and pharmaceutical companies will bleed every last dime out of the American consumer. Bankruptcy as a protection option will end, for all but the wealthiest. Ken Lay will be pardoned. There will be massive protests, but corporate control of the media will assure biased coverage that scares people and brings cries for "order." Dissent will be equated with treason (we are almost there already); it will be enforced by passage of new Alien and Sedition Acts by the GOP supermajority (see above, redistricting) and upheld by a wide margin in the new Supreme Court. The threat of a terrorist attack will be used to invade Syria, possibly Iran. This article paints too rosy a scenario. Most important, it presumes honest elections and full media coverage. Neither is likely.

and not engage in some form of extreme rebellion or even worse, at that point. Individuals or well-organized groups could pull off a huge surprise of their own by then. They may even be planning for it at this moment.

But I rather doubt it. If Bush is sworn in for a second term, it may come to what you propose. Welcome to DU.

It will make the saga of Freddy Kruger a "Fractured Fairy Tale!"

...had aimed high and achieved much."

Well, so far: name one thing Bush has "achieved". I can't think of a single thing that is positive.

I doubt history will be nearly this kind to Bush.