Erasing Bush

Newsweek ^ | 1/22/09 | Michael Hirsh

[DocT111]

With a call for 'relentless' diplomacy, Hillary further obliterates W's legacy.

After Inauguration Day, departed presidents usually become footnotes pretty quickly. What we are witnessing now is far more dramatic. It's closer to a liquidation, or a cauterization. George W. Bush is being turned into an unperson, like a character out of Orwell. It's been only two days, and there is scarcely a trace of not only his personal presence, but of his policies. Or at least that is the impression Barack Obama would like to convey.

The process of erasing the last eight years from American history began with President Obama's inaugural address on Tuesday. Between condemning torture and expressing a willingness to talk with enemies, the new president began eliminating Bush even as the former president sat listening behind him. Then, on his first work day, Obama signed executive orders reversing the Bush administration's emphasis on secrecy and reliance on revolving-door lobbyists, to be followed by three more orders: closing Guantanamo Bay (within a year), forbidding torture and suspending military tribunals for foreign terror suspects. Meanwhile Treasury Secretary-nominee Timothy Geithner (whose nomination was finally approved by the Senate Finance Committee) said brand-new strictures would also be applied to financial bailouts.

Then, on Wednesday, Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the appointment of two permanent envoys to major trouble spots—George Mitchell to the Mideast and Richard Holbrooke to Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was perhaps the surest sign of all that Obama intends a 180-degree reversal from the ultimatum-heavy approach of the Bush administration, which saw diplomacy mainly as an exercise in stating terms for surrender, whether to Iran, Hamas or North Korea (except over the last couple of years).

[Vaduz]

Obama signed executive orders / make rules brake rules repeat yes it’s all obama the democrat.

[Constitutional Patriot]

And the results of their naive ignorance will be their fault and their fault alone. It's a shame that this will likely come at the expense of American lives. These leftists live in a parallel universe where reality is an option.

[Carley]

Newsweak. On the way to it’s own obliteration.

They’ll be Bush bashing to the bitter end.

Talk about GOOD RIDDANCE!!

[HawaiianGecko]

I believe Hirsch is being a tad bit hyperbolic.  "Obama intends a 180-degree reversal from the ultimatum-heavy approach of the Bush administration"   I wonder how he squares the two strikes yesterday, killing 20 people in Pakistan with this silly statement?

[MathDoc]

When the terrorists and our foreign enemies challenge the United States, they no longer have to worry about Delta Force, the 101st Airborne, SEALs, and the United States Marine Corps. Nope. Now they have to worry about the usurper dispaching Hillary for some ‘relentless’ diplomacy. I imagine that will make them think twice before they murder hundreds or thousands of innocents. And if that’s not enough, there’s always the UN. We know how effective those blue helmets are at bringing thugs back in line.

[Volunteer]

I hope we can return to the policy of treating terrorism as a legal issue and not an act of war. That worked so well for us.

/Sarcasm

[missnry]

Both men, Holbrooke and Mitchell, gained fame by ending what seemed to be intractable conflicts, Bosnia (Holbrooke) and Northern Ireland (Mitchell). "There is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended," Mitchell said.

As far as they are concerned in Hamastan they wholeheartily agree with Mitchell. They have a saying there:
"FIRST THE SATURDAY PEOPLE... THEN THE SUNDAY PEOPLE."
You may as well bow the knee to them now Mr. Mitchell. This conflict will not end until Islam is ruling in Israel and the USA.

[RichInOC]

Ah, yes. The problem with erasing your predecessor’s policies is that, as a certain retired general, National Security Advisor and Secretary of State once said in a slightly different context, if you break it, you own it.

[HawaiianGecko]

I believe Hirsch is being a tad bit hyperbolic.  "Obama intends a 180-degree reversal from the ultimatum-heavy approach of the Bush administration"   I wonder how he squares the two strikes yesterday, killing 20 people in Pakistan with this silly statement?

Or from 1996: The Iranian arms continued to flow to Bosnia's Muslims, and the United States did nothing about it, a fact widely reported in the world press. By the fall of 1994, the C.I.A. station chief began to wonder whether Ambassador Galbraith (Croatia) was running a covert arms-smuggling operation behind the agency's back. That question led to a series of secret internal reviews, news reports and ultimately to the Congressional investigations now under way.  Some Congressional Republicans have accused the Clinton Administration of undertaking a secret and illegal covert operation, without informing Congress, that led to an increase in Iran's influence in Bosnia.  Mr. Holbrooke said the Administration, after heated internal debate, chose "a policy of not having a policy" on the shipments. He called that "the least bad of a lot of lousy choices," but a decision justified by Bosnia's survival when the war ended.

This was diplomacy?

[Numbers Guy]

And the results of their naive ignorance will be their fault and their fault alone. It's a shame that this will likely come at the expense of American lives

It's September 10th again! We can all now be happy and joyful and pretend nobody will ever be mean to us EVER! Wheee!!!!

[Dilbert56]

We need a bumper sticker like that: Welcome back to September 10th.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

I contacted this dolt of an author:

Dear Mr. Hirsh,

Thank you for your entertaining article! Liberals are so stupid that they’re hilarious.

I am looking forward to the inevitable demise of “Newsweak” with bated breath, since I haven’t read an intellectually stimulating article printed in that rag for years.

Thanks for the laugh,

X. XXXXX

[Bahbah]

There is a very interesting analysis of this need to “obliterate” Bush at Dr. Sanity: http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2009/01/frenzy-of-undoing.html

[RobbyS]

And cover for Obama. Can’t let his rabidly pacifist followers know, just yet, that so far nothing has changed. Of course, Obama is likely to appoint commisions like the Baker commission that told us that the Iraq War was lost and that we should bail out. Events have a way of frustrating those who think that all differences can be talked out. When powerful emotions coincide with real interests, it requires catastrophe before the matters are resolved, Witness the clashes between the Axis Powers and the Western Powers(Britain and France) in 1940. Lost by the Western Powers, BTW,

[RobbyS]

And cover for Obama. Can’t let his rabidly pacifist followers know, just yet, that so far nothing has changed. Of course, Obama is likely to appoint commisions like the Baker commission that told us that the Iraq War was lost and that we should bail out. Events have a way of frustrating those who think that all differences can be talked out. When powerful emotions coincide with real interests, it requires catastrophe before the matters are resolved, Witness the clashes between the Axis Powers and the Western Powers(Britain and France) in 1940. Lost by the Western Powers, BTW,

[Mygirlsmom]

And the results of their naive ignorance will be their fault and their fault alone.

Wrong. Somehow they will manage to continue to blame all wrongs on Bush and Conservatives and the ignorant public will continue to believe it.

These leftists live in a parallel universe where reality is an option. to be ignored, wished or nuanced away. Problem with that for all of us is that reality always wins.

[Numbers Guy]

There is a very interesting analysis of this need to “obliterate” Bush at Dr. Sanity

Thanks for the link, that was a good read.

In some ways I almost hope that they try to have hearings or even prosecutions. At some point some Bush administration official will give a Jack Nicholson/Few Good Men type speech (basically "grow the hell up, this isn't croquet").

That would galvanize a large part of the public, including a lot of independents--and even some people who voted for Obama thinking (naively) that he would be strong on defense.

[originalbuckeye]

The power of Big Media convinced the majority of the voters that there was absolutely NO diplomacy going on during the Bush years. Sadly the masses believed this. During that time I kept asking why do most of the people think we aren’t using diplomacy? We desperately need more Conservative journalists in Big Media!

[Sgt_Schultze]

The more quickly W’s policies are reversed, the more quickly the Zero administration assumes complete responsibility for anything and everything nasty which should befall the country during his administration.