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The First Rough Draft of History“BERLIN (Reuters) — Editorial writers around the world have been taking their final printed whacks at George W. Bush, accusing the president of tarnishing America’s standing with what many saw as arrogant and incompetent leadership. . . .
“‘A weak leader, Bush was just overwhelmed in the job,’ said Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung under a headline: ‘The Failure.’ ‘He confused stubbornness with principles. America has become intolerant and it will take a long time to repair that damage.’” . . .
• The Sunday Times in London: “Bush leaves a country and an economy in tatters.”
• The Daily Mail: “How will history judge George W.? Have we, perhaps, to quote his own mangled malapropisms, ‘misunderestimated’ him? On the plus side, after 9/11 he achieved what became his number one priority: to prevent his country suffering further attack on its own soil. Al Qaeda has been hugely weakened.”
• The Scottish Daily Record: “America is now hated in many parts of the world. Bush leaves a legacy of wars and the world economy in meltdown. He has been dismissed as a buffoon and a war-monger, a man who made the world a more dangerous place while sending it to the brink of economic collapse.”
• Germany’s Die Zeit: “Bush brought great misery to the world with his ‘friend-or-foe’ mentality.”
• Stern magazine: “Bush led the world’s most powerful nation to ruin. He lied to the world, tortured in the name of freedom and caused lasting damage to America's standing.”
• The Pan-Arab al-Hayat's headline: “We cried a lot and the joke was on us.”
• Austria’s Wiener Zeitung: “The United States was once the symbol of justice in the world but that has been damaged by Bush. A web of manipulation has cost America $900 billion and the lives of 4,000 soldiers—along with at least 500,000 Iraqis.”
• Warsaw’s daily Dziennik: The Bush presidency: “It was empty rhetoric.”
(Thanks to alert WORDster Tony Seton.)
Public Service Announcement:
Dear World:
We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of ideals of democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service.
The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4.
Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(Thanks to various alert WORDsters)
Today in History
2004: Salvation Army announces $1.5 billion gift from McDonald’s Ray and Joan Kroc; 1996: Yassir Arafat elected Palestinian leader; 1981: As Ronald Reagan is inaugurated the 40th president, 52 U.S. hostages are released in Teheran; 1961: Robert Frost reads at JFK inauguration; 1942: Nazi Wannsee Conference comes to “final solution” for Jews; 1841: Hong Kong becomes British; 1801: John Marshall becomes chief justice of the Supreme Court
Yes Ted...BUT...
ReplyDeleteIf the shrub hadn't been such a boob, we wouldn't have needed Obama as much as we do!
I credit the twig/bush with creating a space for a true spirit, a real leader and I thank him for it!
Alison
Oh, Come on!!! The man was the president of the United States. It's cheesy to kick him as he leaves after all his years of service. It's not all his fault that things went bad!
ReplyDeleteWho cares what some obscure paper in Berlin thinks? He’s a been very gracious in this transition process. Give the guy a break.
ReplyDeleteAmy Taylor
A president can only be as good as the Congress he serves with. I have high hopes for Obama, but will his ideas and reforms be tangled in the same Legislative mess we've seen for the past eight years? Bush certainly made some mistakes, but the fault was not his alone. The change we're seeking will come largely from leaders we've elected much more locally. Let's hold them responsible ... both as journalists and private citizens.
ReplyDeleteWow - thin skins and dodging responsibility already!
ReplyDeleteNo, it wasnt all Bush's fault - this is (supposedly) a democracy after all, and multi-millions of US citizens voted for him, not just once, but twice!
In the rest of the world, some countries have to put up with horrible leaders because they have no choice... a significant portion of this country chose to subject themselves and the rest of the world to one of the worst presidents in US history for 8 long years, when they had the chance to correct that mistake much earlier...
And grace in defeat doesnt undo the damage he and the yes-men have done to the rest of the world over this time... you have the right to defend his actions as they affect your own country, but not as they have affected other nations and people...
Besides, what was Bush going to do - throw a fit because he was finally kicked out of an office he stole rather than one in the first place?
Dont write off the opinions of "some obscure paper in Berlin"... that paper - and all the others quoted - reflects the view of much of the rest of the world...
oops - belated proofing correction..
ReplyDelete2nd-to-last paragraph should read "rather than won" instead of "rather than one"... fingers flying too fast for eyes and brain...
A great morning for America. :)
ReplyDeleteYou know what? I'll bet Sueddeutsche Zeitung's prediction is wrong. I'll bet that the world (generally speaking; not terrorists, of course) will forgive and repair and rebuild bridges with America a lot faster than expected. Human nature inclines to the good, wants things to go well. Obama's leadership will, if it stays true to his
essentially compassionate vision, re-establish us as a country of integrity and good will, that wants to solve problems, not create or abscond from them. That will be most welcomed, and quickly.
At least, that's what feels true on this inspiring day.
--Alexandra
Personally, I believe we should focus more on the inauguration of President Obama and the future of the United States, and leave President Bush in the past.
ReplyDeleteWe are a democracy and we voted Bush into office, so we hold some responsibility. Hopefully our new choice for president will be able to pull our country back together in more ways than one.
We need to focus on the positive to come rather than dwell on the negative things that have happened in the past.
While its understandable that Americans want to move forward and "focus on the positive to come rather than dwell on the negative things that have happened in the past", I also think that its a form of denial and unwillingness to face what has been done in this country's name, to recognise and acknowledge, to express remorse and to make reparations...
ReplyDeleteSo easy to say - oops, that was a mistake, the guy who did that is gone now, there's a new guy in town and things are going to be OK....
Well, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the rest of the world is not so ready to forget and step lightly forward... and the rest of the world is not necessarily ready to trust that things are going to change either, just because you say so... the proof is in the pudding, as they say, and the world is waiting to see if Obama's going to walk his talk...
Listening to his inauguration speech today, I didnt hear what I was waiting for in terms of American foreign policy... there was still the threat to use force to protect American interests...
And I thought he missed a wonderful chance at sowing seeds of co-operation nationally and internationally, by having only Christian clergy involved in the two prayers.... It would have been an absolutely amazing gesture of inclusion and reconciliation and a clear signal to the world to have an interfaith group - christian, muslim, jewish, buddhist, hindu, pagan, bahai etc - each offer a prayer for his presidency, for the US and for the world...
And now that African-American aspirations have been attained and that racial wound perhaps cleansed and healed(?), it would have been equally amazing if he had directed some focus/acknowledgement towards the injustices carried out against the First Peoples of this country... perhaps had First Peoples elders/shaman pray for/bless him and his office... at the very least acknowledge that this country (even for African Americans) was built on the back of genocide, forced assimilation and the taking by force and by fraud of sovereign land... that this injustice is the first wound of this country, and that its still festering...
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ReplyDelete