Bush's Last Days: The Lamest Duck

Time ^ | November 26, 2008 | JOE KLEIN, WORLD'S LARGEST POLITICAL HEAD

[presidio9]

We have "only one President at a time," Barack Obama said in his debut press conference as President-elect. Normally, that would be a safe assumption - but we're learning not to assume anything as the charcoal-dreary economic winter approaches. By mid-November, with the financial crisis growing worse by the day, it had become obvious that one President was no longer enough (at least not the President we had). So, in the days before Thanksgiving, Obama began to move - if not to take charge outright, then at least to preview what things will be like when he does take over in January. He became a more public presence, taking questions from the press three days in a row. He named his economic team. He promised an enormous stimulus package that would somehow create 2.5 million new jobs, and began to maneuver the new Congress toward having the bill ready for him to sign - in a dramatic ceremony, no doubt - as soon as he assumes office.

That we have slightly more than one President for the moment is mostly a consequence of the extraordinary economic times. Even if George Washington were the incumbent, the markets would want to know what John Adams was planning to do after his Inauguration. And yet this final humiliation seems particularly appropriate for George W. Bush. At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks. (See TIME's best pictures of Barack Obama.)

It is in the nature of mainstream journalism to attempt to be kind to Presidents when they are coming and going but to be fiercely skeptical in between. I've been feeling sorry for Bush lately, a feeling partly induced by recent fictional depictions of the President as an amiable lunkhead in Oliver Stone's

[Carley]

Joe Klein can go to hell for all I care.

[ilgipper]

At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude

Amazing. Despite this President having made most of the decisions the right way, the left has somehow gotten this label to stick. I guess the past two presidential terms show us that if the media tells the same lie over and over, eventually it becomes the truth.

[marychesnutfan]

I think a barf alert would be in order here.

[marychesnutfan]

I think a barf alert would be in order here.

[SunStar]

Hey Time Magazine... screw you.

[ducdriver]

Impeach 0bamma.

[skeeter]

Klein's a buffoon. Bush was the best friend to democrats the GOP could offer, giving them nearly EVERYTHING they wanted domestically. They tore his head off anyway.

That's the reason to feel sorry for him.

Hopefully, the next republican president won't be so naive & will stick it to these toads right where it hurts.

[goodnesswins]

The Propaganda continues....GOEBBELS would be soooo proud.

[NonValueAdded]

JOE KLEIN, WORLD'S LARGEST POLITICAL HEAD

amazing that he can still manage to fit it up there.

[Hi Heels]

It just makes you wonder WHAT these people will bitch about after he leaves the White House. Let’s all make sure to treat the NEW president in exactly the manner the OLD president was treated....

[al baby]

I thank Bush for keeping the homeland safe his leagacy is not for me to decide but by folks 20 years from now He was attacked relentlessly from day one I wish him well He was not all that was advertised but seldom are just wait till the one takes over . I bet bush can’t wait for the last ride home

[AngelesCrestHighway]

“At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude,”....

Not as stupefying as Jimmah Catah, you asshat!....

[IbJensen]

Despite this President having made most of the decisions the right way...

I voted for GWB twice, contributed money to his campaigns, because as I saw it, there was no alternative. Just like this past time.

That being said this president wasn't like me, as well as the many others that habituate this site. He wasn't a conservative. He was a globalist sired by another globalist who could never have the true welfare of this nation at heart.

He turned his back on our borders and our hordes of illegals just as he has turned his back on our two imprisoned border guards, Campean and Ramos.

Now our nation is in one hell of a pickle and, subsequent to the term of Ronald Reagan, we've had a vacuum in respect to leadership.

These candidates, with few exceptions, couldn't pass a test given to high school sophomores.

What these vacuous succession of 'presidents' have done is to deep six the Constitution making it necessary for a revolution.

[geologist]

George Bush is doing, and taking action,

The medias’ are not reporting the news ... except to criticize Bush, Palin, and of course conservatives; and laud Obama’a every word action and intention:... completely without any evidence of overview, appraisal, or value to the relevance of his choices in selections and thoughts as to what to do next.

NOTHING NEW HERE. It is the Clinton's all over again. Only worse.

[sickoflibs]

RE :’Joe Klein can go to hell for all I care.’

GWB too. Ask yourself why marxist Maxine Waters BCC told all her black marxist congressmen/women to support the GWB/Pelosi 700-900B blank check in September that McCain voted for, without a speech, and attacked later. Why? Maybe Because she loves CEOs and capitalism and wall street? We are talking about a Cuba Castro supporter that said the CIA sold crack to USA cities. No! she knows this is the key to marxism handed to Obama.

GWB with McCain has damaged conservatism and capitialism beyond belief.

[Jeff Chandler]

if the media tells the same lie over and over, eventually it becomes the truth.

It does if the people being lied about don't stand up for themselves.

The Bush Presidency has created a gaping party leadership vacuum.

Every lie should be opposed, and the liars should be publicly named and labeled.

Every Republican politician who fails or refuses to loudly stand up for the truth should be cut off from any funding or support from the party. (It's not a social club, it's a political party!)

Members of the press should be publicly personally excoriated when they slander anyone, particularly the military, or publish sensitive intelligence information. NAME NAMES! The Bush administration and the entire Republican party should have gone BALLISTIC every day the NY Times published a slander like the Abu Grabe lies. They should have been exposed as the American-hating Leftists they are by the President HIMSELF.

Instead, we get the famous Republican beltway refusal to defend against lies and slander. After eight years of that, yes, the American people believe the only voice out there, the voice of sedition and betrayal.

[presidio9]

I guess the past two presidential terms show us that if the media tells the same lie over and over, eventually it becomes the truth.

Why? Because Joe Klien keeps repeating that lie? History will look back more favorably on President Bush, because eight months into his presidency he was given one task: Protecting our homeland from further attack. Mission Accomplished. Unfortunately, the law of averages says that President-elect Obama will not have the same track record, no matter how competent he is at dealing with terrorism.

When Reagan left office, the left was doing everytyhing they could to forever lable him is as a corrupt, senile, superstitious, lazy, uncaring. History is still partisan, but it is impossible for any media to be nearly as partisan as our own clowncar version.

[wardaddy]

The Bush Presidency has created a gaping party leadership vacuum.

the most glaring lack of GOP leadership I've ever witnessed

[Libertarianize the GOP]

I remember a study done a few years ago on the IQ level of students in various departments at the University. The Highest IQ belonged to those in the Physics Department, the lowest were those training to be Journalists. What we have here is someone who is far less well read than George Bush, someone whose IQ likely makes them incapable of understanding the complexities of the World, and someone lacking in any significant accomplishments. The result is a desire to lash out at those who are superior to Joe Klien in every meaningful respect, combined with a coward who would never consider stepping away from the herd and offering an original thought. He simply regurgitates the official media orthodoxy and proclaims it is all George Bush's fault.