George Bush's Third Term By Thomas L. Friedman

For those of you, like me, who refuse to pay for the NY Times:

November 23, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist
George Bush's Third Term
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
President George W. Bush has just entered his third term. That's right. He's a three-term president. His first term was from 2001 to 2004, and it was dominated by 9/11, which Mr. Bush skillfully used to take a hard-right Republican agenda on taxes and war with Iraq, which was going nowhere on 9/10, and drive it into a 9/12 world.

His second term was very brief. It lasted from his re-election in November 2004 until Election Day 2005. This was an utterly wasted term. It was dominated by an attempt to privatize Social Security, which the country rejected, political scandals involving I. Lewis Libby Jr., Tom DeLay and Bill Frist, a ham-fisted response to Katrina and a mishandling of the Iraq war to such a degree that many Democrats and Republicans have begun to vote "no confidence" in the Bush-Cheney war performance. If ours were a parliamentary system, Mr. Bush would have had to resign by now.

So now begins Mr. Bush's third term. What will he do with it? The last time Mr. Bush hit rock bottom - then from too much drinking - he found God and turned his life around. Now that he has hit rock bottom again - this time from drinking in too much Karl Rove - the question is whether he can find America and turn his presidency around.

When I watch Mr. Bush these days, though, he looks to me like a man who wishes that we had a 28th amendment to the Constitution - called "Can I Go Now?" He looks like someone who would prefer to pack up and go back to his Texas ranch. It's not just that he doesn't seem to be having any fun. It's that he seems to be totally out of ideas relevant to the nation's future.

cont'd...

http://donkeyodtoo.blogspot.com

Friedman not giving up hope on his fearless leader....

I think Friedman is probably correct in that assessment.

More and more Bush seems to be just going through the motions, and marking his time until he can retire to the plush life of an Ex_President.

Yes he can, Resign the office amid shame, exactly as he should.

Yes, you may go. And don't let the door hit you in the ass, if you can get it to open in the first place.

NT

The Lexus and the Olive Tree

and

The World is Flat

I highly recommend them both.

i wouldn't pay a dime to read his under-informed faith-based propaganda :puke:

peace

:puke:

haven't been around here much, havya?

"highly recommended"

hugh laffs

hugh!1!

seriesly

EDIT: beat me, billy

rats

to beat bpilgrim in a Friedman smackdown

:thumbsup:

Not to pilgrim. :-)

You ain't lying. I don't even try no more. bpilgrim is on it.

Don

Such amazing oppeness in a liberal forum. Amazing respect for each others' views and opinions.

Reminds me why I'm a democrat.

far more then the lexus,people have treated the world is flat very unfairly because of Friedman's pro globalization reputation. He has clearly altered many of his views since Lexus, yet many critics treat it as it is Lexus part 2, I really wonder if many of these critics actually read the book..

...the collection of his columns. He does have some good ideas, but his worldview of unrestricted free trade and oversimplified thoughts on foreign policy (such as "We are promoting freedom and democracy in Iraq") are annoying.

It's nice that he's one neoliberal that actually chimes for energy conservation once and a while, but it smacks of tokenism to compensate for the fact that his global economic viewpoints are based on limitless cheap oil.

Even though Friedman takes such an idealized, awestruck, and naive view of global corporations, his book contains many truths. I really appreciated his chapters on the necessity of improving America's social programs (universal health care, etc). And I also think he hit the nail on the head when discussing how so many people of the US are terribly unprepared for and ignorant of the globalized world.

That being said, I wish Friedman would address some of the anti-globalization arguments better. He rarely touches on concerns regarding the environment, cultural imposition, and thrusting the entire world into a capitalist, social Darwinist, competitive frenzy.

"We are about to produce the most legitimate government ever in the Arab world..."

talk about drinking the kool-aide :crazy:

peace

he looks to me like a man who wishes that we had a 28th amendment to the Constitution - called "Can I Go Now?" He looks like someone who would prefer to pack up and go back to his Texas ranch. It's not just that he doesn't seem to be having any fun. It's that he seems to be totally out of ideas relevant to the nation's future."

Jet lag.

in his column.But he lost me when he supported invading Iraq.

He's too centrist now, especially in relation to world economics. He's Republican lite.

Im a centrist and I didnt from the outset.No point in stereotyping.

impression that he does drink the Kool-aid too much, and serves as far too egregious a bush apologist. But I'm not an expert on him by any means.

However, for someone like him to start making these noises, well, maybe his is another soul that can be saved. It can only be good and beneficial and productive if more people like him start opening their eyes, recognizing the bush wreckage for what it is, and speaking out. MAYBE somebody on the dark side, who reads him and finds him valid, will be led to do the same thing. MAYBE (said while NOT holding breath).

He is UTTERLY spot-on about one thing - and one VERY IMPORTANT thing: the "Can I Go Now?" bit. What I think we're now seeing in our dear little junior is the same behavior and set of reactions/responses that his family, friends and colleagues undoubtedly saw in the end days of Arbusto, Spectrum 7, and Harken Energy, and maybe also in the baseball team, and in any number of other endeavors he got into (or was grafted onto by others), proceeded to fuck up, and then waited for whichever of daddy's friends was the designated cavalry officer sent to rescue him and pull his sorry incompetent ass out of another jam, again. He has indeed reached his latest "Can I Go Now?" moment. The only problem is - he's presumably got to stick it out for another three years, and in THIS particular job, no rich and influential crony can just step in and lift him out of it. This one's not that simple, nor is it the same sort of situation from which he's always been able to rely upon the same routine - he gets into something, thoroughly fucks it up, and then he's pulled back out before any of it sticks to him while his benefactors search for the next place to park him that - MAYBE he won't fuck up. And, oh, I'm sure they're convinced that there just MUST be SOMETHING he can do, SOME PLACE they can park him, where he won't mess up too badly - they'll still be searching for THAT holy grail til the day he dies. As usual with most greedy republi-CONS (and other greedy pirates), they don't know when to stop, and they always reach too far.

I hope they decide he needs to be removed - and then parked with THE CARLYLE GROUP!!!! That'll fix 'em! I'd say for anybody who owns stock in that outfit - THAT would be the time to sell.

He has been very even handed in the past but like I said,his supporting the invasion of Iraq was unfortunate.

Where's the Bush deserter when we really need him? He needs to find an exit strategy from Iraq, and the Presidency. The best model would be his exit strategy from the Air National Guard.

That would be the ultimate irony but would be in character of the real coward. He couldn't handle landing his Fighter Jet and today he can't handle pressure of the Presidential office. He can't even find the door away from the press which Bushco owns.

anymore fucking fun at our expense..and yeah, he can go back to his pig farm anytime now.

friedman didn't call the Iraqi war right but he's still pushing it..

And what "reckless remarks by Democrats"? That bush misled us into war?

friedman doesn't have any credibility with me, although, even he can see it's time for the adults to take charge.

Bet he is one of the 34%ers too.

Don

Hope they both fall off the edge of the Flat Earth.

I always wondered who those 34% people were.

You don't take the country to war on the wings of a lie. I've never forgotten this statement by him because it defines what happened. I just could never understand his varying positions since making that statement.

Hey Tom! There are no do overs and you, a newspaper columnist, can't give your boy something that's not in the Constitution of the United States.

Oh, and by the way, the "third" term is already looking a lot like the second one.

measure the depths.

Friedman is a pompous ass. There was nothing "skillful" about what he imagines to be Bush's "first term" with the possible exception of how broadly the Bushies snowed The New York Times and uncritical dopes like Tom Friedman.

Friedman can fuck off. It's way too late to start doing too little thinking.

Well, duh. He never had an idea in his life, why would he start now?

God, Friedman is dense. He and Woodward are dumb as stumps.