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Bush's Waterloo Week
BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by
Richard
J. Smolnicky
History will record that the week of January 12-18, 2003, was the beginning of the end of George W. Bush's presidency. It was the week that Bush abandoned all pretense of being either compassionate or conservative and, instead, revealed himself to be the elitist, right wing extremist that his critics always feared him to be. It will also be known as the week where Bush's actions guaranteed him only a single term in office.
First, Bush continued trying to sell another raid on the U.S. Treasury on behalf of the wealthy as an economic stimulus plan. The centerpiece of Bush's proposal is a $364 billion plan to eliminate taxes on stock dividends. The corporate CEOs that financed Bush's 2000 campaign, in anticipation of the passage of this plan by a Republican Congress, are undoubtedly planning to take their entire compensation package next year in the form of stock dividends so that they pay no taxes whatsoever. In the meantime, the average American worker will still suffer through the multiple taxation of payroll taxes with income taxes with sales taxes with property taxes, etc., etc.
Next, Bush went on a crusade to appeal to all of the Trent Lott fans out there by filing a brief against the University of Michigan because the school uses race as one of many criteria when considering applicants for law school. Bush's position is simply a thinly veiled ploy to prevent minorities from access to higher education. Indeed, Bush has already accomplished this feat in Texas by pushing the same policy when he was governor there. Now, the law schools in Texas have little to no minority representation.
It is the ultimate in hypocrisy for George W. Bush, a man who attained every position he ever held in life by the use of his family connections, to begrudge or prevent anyone from getting additional consideration for any position, whether in academia or the workplace. In fact, I would bet a month's salary that the same minority applicants who would be refused acceptance to the University of Michigan Law School, if the views of the Bush Administration's brief are upheld, have a far better command of the English language than Mr. Bush does!
And, finally, Bush made a pitch to overrule states' rights in the area of tort law by capping the amount of recovery in a lawsuit for anyone victimized by a dangerously negligent doctor or hospital. That action must surely please Bush's insurance company campaign contributors, who are currently squeezing America's doctors with unreasonably high malpractice premiums in order to recoup their recent losses in the stock market. Never mind the fact that, in many cases, the $250,000 cap that Bush is seeking would not be enough to cover the legal and miscellaneous expenses necessary for the average person to take on these giant hospitals and insurance companies in a lawsuit.
And what is the effect that these disgusting policies are having on Mr. Bush's public standing? Well, not even all of Mr. Bush's Middle Eastern saber-rattling is preventing his poll numbers from tumbling. Bush's favorability rating dropped to 58 percent in the most recent CNN/Gallup poll. That figure is 15 points lower than President Clinton's favorability rating on the day he was impeached. And, furthermore, that same poll showed that a miniscule 36 percent of Americans plan to vote for Bush in 2004. I am sure that figure must be giving Karl Rove a lot of sleepless nights!
So, in one week, Bush has shown that he has no solutions to the economic mess our country is experiencing, no sensitivity to the hardships and inequities minorities face while growing up in America, and no compassion for people who are victimized due to incompetent health care. In other words, Bush talks tough to the world while showing complete indifference to the struggles and problems of the average American.
Sound familiar? One-term presidencies must run in the family.
Richard
J. Smolnicky
Griffith, IN
BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
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