Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Like Nixon, Bush has been comparing himself to Lincoln.  He has gone Nixon one better, however, in also comparing himself to George Washington.  Bush has even claimed to have read books on Washington to the point where he can evaluate the alleged parallels between the first administration in America's history alongside his own.

In terms of pretenses toward historical reading the Washington comment is reminiscent of his period as a candidate while Texas governor in 2000.  He claimed then to have read a book on former Secretary of State Dean Acheson along with other absorbing historical works as he sought to establish gravitas as a potential future commander in chief.

The effort was soon exposed as no more than a publicity charade, with Bush being stumped after being asked the most basic questions concerning the books he professed to have conscientiously read.  Now he has claimed not only to have read and understood the presidency of George Washington, has cited a parallel concerning the two Georges.

Bush had the audacity recently to state that Washington's stewardship is still surrounded by controversy.  Even a cursory look at rankings of chief executives by historians beginning with the widely publicized effort undertaken by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. of Columbia in the mid-twentieth century to the present reveals an unflagging support level for Washington.

Washington has been ranked consistently in the top tier of American presidents alongside Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  He was credited with steering a steady course over uncharted waters in the trying early years of the American Republic.  

The controversy Bush attributed to assessments of Washington is false as he is seen in a non-controversial light, praised by historians across the ideological divide.

Bush's effort to absolve himself from accountability in an administration marked by a series of calamities highlighted by a tragically unnecessary foreign war, runaway debt, as well as destruction of basic constitutional freedoms, has been unsuccessful.  

His poll numbers have reached the calamitous stage.  A less timid and ineffectual Democratic Party would have moved long ago to bring an impeachment action against him.

While Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi seek to treat a politician stained by perpetual deceit and failure as someone with whom to compromise on a solution to the Iraq War ongoing tragedy, increasing numbers of Americans recognize the foolhardiness of such a strategy.  

This is a war launched by the rabid neoconservative led by the followers of Leo Strauss that comprise the Cheney-Bush axis.  This rapacious axis has given no indication that it is willing to envision a circumstance under which America will leave Iraq.  

Those who have read the ambitious position papers of the Project for the New American Century realize that Iraq is only a first step toward Middle East hegemony, a result neocons are determined to achieve regardless of the consequences or how the Arabs comprising the region feel about neocon dominance in the region.

How welcome are the recent words from Little Rock enunciated by Jimmy Carter as told to the Arkansas Gazette and quoted in the Associated Press May 19:

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.  The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."

In addition to castigating the Cheney-Bush Administration for pursuing preventive war, Carter, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, also criticized Bush for having "zero peace talks" in Israel and for the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which he, as have many others, perceived as a circumvention of the nation's tradition of separation of church and state.

Carter also criticized Britain's Tony Blair.  When asked how he would judge Blair's support of Bush, Carter replied succinctly, "Abominable.  Loyal.  Blind.  Apparently subservient."

Carter's harsh words, the strongest denunciation he ever made against a U.S. head of state, underscore the importance of pursuing an aggressive impeachment effort against Cheney and Bush.  

Time is of the essence.  This factor is evidenced by current comments on the part of neocon cheerleader Cheney and his ongoing denunciations of Iran and its alleged "nuclear capability."  

Doesn't this charge have a familiar ring?  Remember Colin Powell's ringing denunciation of Saddam Hussein before the United Nations?  Remember how Fox News lavishly praised Powell's speech as a "virtuoso performance"?  Also, what about the Niger yellow cake and Iraq's alleged uranium enrichment that was addressed in a State of the Union Address?

Forget Reid and Pelosi.  Support Dennis Kucinich in his ongoing impeachment effort.