The Bush Legacy Propaganda

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ADMINISTRATION
The Bush Legacy Propaganda
President Bush repeatedly argues that neither he nor his contemporaries are yet able to fully assess his legacy. Rather, he and his advisers say -- again and again and again -- that "history will judge" whether he was an effective president. Despite this oft-repeated claim, the President seems disinclined to leave any of his legacy to chance. In recent weeks, he and his advisers have offered assessments of the Bush era that are increasingly at odds with reality. Condoleezza Rice, for example, argued that Bush engaged the United Nations more than any other president. And just yesterday, Bush told a crowd that Donald Rumsfeld did an "outstanding job" as Secretary of Defense. In a similar vein, the White House recently released a report entitled, "Highlights of Accomplishments and Results of the Administration of George W. Bush" that featured a list of "100 Things Americans May Not Know About the Bush Administration Record." As Frank Rich wrote for the New York Times, "This document is the literary correlative to 'Mission Accomplished.'" As Rich notes, much of the legacy report's claims about the Bush administration's economic, social, and international accomplishments are only true under very narrow conditions, suggesting that the President hopes that Americans would blind themselves to the broader failures of his presidency.

TOLL ON ECONOMY: The Bush legacy document declares that Bush "instituted pro-growth policies" that produced "six years of uninterrupted economic growth and an unprecedented 52 consecutive months of job creation" and asks, "Did you know the President's tax relief helped fuel growth that led to the largest three year increase in revenues in 26 years?" In reality, the President's "pro-growth policies" served to weaken the economy by nearly doubling the federal debt, championing deregulation on Wall Street, and increasing the income gap. While Bush claims that his tax cuts provided needed economic stimulus and pulled the economy out of recession in 2001, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman explained simply, "None of this is true." A recent Los Angeles Times poll found that 75 percent of Americans feel that Bush economic policies were responsible for the current weakened state of the U.S. economy. Further, Americans see the error of Bush's reckless economic deregulation, with 62 percent calling for more aggressive regulation on Wall Street. Bush, however, has not learned his lesson. Yesterday, he told the conservative publication Human Events, "I will continue to argue for low taxes, less regulation."

TOLL ON SOCIETY: In his legacy document, Bush claims credit for promoting a "culture of life" by banning the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research and instituting regulations allowing health care professionals to refuse to participate in medical procedures that violate their personal beliefs. His ban on federal funding for stem cell research "set research back five to six to seven years in this country," delaying potential treatments for a number of degenerative and life threatening diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Similarly, the President's regulatory change allowing health care providers to abstain from procedures they deem unethical allows virtually anyone in the health care sector -- including janitors, receptionists, and volunteers -- to refuse to assist patients with obtaining birth control, abortion, fertility treatments, sterilization, or even referrals to those who would provide such services. As family health insurance premiums nearly doubled, employers became less likely to offer coverage, and the total number of Americans without health insurance grew by 7 million individuals, Bush failed to meaningfully address the nation's health care crisis. In fact, he vetoed expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, denying 10 million low-income childrenaccess to health care. Thankfully, in failing to pass his unpopular Social Security privatization plan, the Bush presidency was not as damaging as it could have been. Had he been successful in the drive, retirees would have suffered massive losses as a result of the current financial crisis that he had a hand in creating.

TOLL ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: The legacy document also tells a story of how Bush "kept America safe and promoted liberty abroad." But this ignores the obvious fact that the attacks of 9/11 happened on his watch, not to mention the roughly 4,000 troops who have died in his wars. Further, while the President claims credit for expanding and strengthening the nation's counterterrorism tools, the U.S. military is weaker now than it was five years ago, the State Department is suffering from staffing shortages and low morale, and Bush's approval of illegal interrogation techniques harmed the CIA's intelligence-gathering initiatives and threatened troops abroad. The President's cowboy diplomacy and his disastrous invasion of Iraq led to unprecedented levels of U.S. unpopularity around the world. But Bush remains untroubled, saying recently, "I think I'll be remembered as a guy who was dealt some pretty tough issues and I dealt with them head-on and I didn't try to shy away."

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH REWARDS IRAQ WAR LOYALISTS WITH PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM: On Monday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino announced that "President Bush will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and John Howard of Australia." Perino noted that the three leaders have been loyal to Bush foreign policy, stating, "All three leaders have been staunch allies of the United States, particularly in combating terrorism." Support for the Iraq war has become a good predictor of whether one will receive the president’s highest honor. Past recipients include Norm Podhoretz (2003), L. Paul Bremer (2004), Gen. Tommy Franks (2004), Gen. Richard Myers (2005), George Tenet (2004), and Gen. Peter Pace (2008). Given this standard, there are no better recipients than Howard and Blair. Howard joined Bush’s Coalition of the Willing and kept a large number of Australian troops in Iraq until his defeat last year. Similarly, Blair, derided in Britain as "Bush's poodle," had been Bush’s strongest Western ally and helped push the invasion of Iraq. Uribe also joined Bush in contributing forces to the Coalition of the Willing.

ENVIRONMENT -- EPA INACTION CONTRIBUTED TO TENNESSEE COAL ASH DISASTER: On Dec. 22, a billion gallons of toxic coal sludge burst through a retention wall in eastern Tennessee and spread across 300 acres, causing massive property and environmental damage. The New York Times reports today that the Tennessee dump and more than 1,300 other similar dumps across the United States are "unregulated and unmonitored," as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has refused to act after facing push-back from the Big Coal. "The lack of uniform regulation stems from the E.P.A.'s inaction on the issue, which it has been studying for 28 years," the Times reports. "In 2000, the agency came close to designating coal ash a hazardous waste, but backpedaled in the face of an industry campaign that argued that tighter controls would cost it $5 billion a year." Regulation is essential, however, as "environmentalists, scientists and other experts say that regulations could have prevented the Tennessee spill." In fact, in 2000 the EPA "came close to prohibiting ash ponds" like the one in eastern Tennessee, but never acted. "We're still working on coming up with those standards," said Matthew Hale, director of the office of solid waste at the EPA. "We don't have a schedule at this point." Yesterday, a coalition of environmental groups announced it would sue the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on behalf of 40 families, "arguing TVA broke federal law by not fully disclosing the extent of spill contamination."

ECONOMY -- PENCE CHALLENGES AMERICANS TO 'CHECK' HIS FACTS: GUESS WHAT? HE'S GOT THEM WRONG: Appearing on C-SPAN's Washington Journal yesterday, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) repeatedly claimed that the solution to the economic crisis was to "do what Ronald Reagan did" and implement "across-the-board permanent marginal tax reductions." Towards the end of his interview, however, a caller challenged Pence's idea, saying that deficits exploded under Reagan, forcing the first President Bush to raise taxes. Pence replied that the caller was right that Reagan "saw deficits and the national debt grow," but he claimed it was the fault of spending in Congress because Reagan's tax cuts "resulted in more than a doubling of the revenues." Pence then asked viewers to "check me on this" because "people can check things easily on the Internet these days." As Media Matters noted, revenues did not get close to doubling under Reagan. "According to the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), when adjusted for inflation to constant fiscal year 2000 dollars, receipts (revenues) increased from $1.077 trillion to $1.236 trillion during Reagan's term in office." Additionally, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has found that income tax "receipts grew noticeably more slowly than usual in the 1980s, after the large cuts in individual and corporate income tax rates in 1981." In contrast, "income tax collections grew much more rapidly in the 1990s," when "marginal income tax rates at the top of the income spectrum were raised," according to CBPP.



A government spokesman said today that Israel "welcomes" a proposal from France and Egypt to end the fighting in Gaza that has gone on for 12 days. The precise details of the proposal are currently unknown. Earlier this morning, Israel "briefly suspended its fighting" and "agreed to do so for three hours each day to permit humanitarian relief goods to reach the beleaguered population."

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) lashed out at Eric Holder, President-elect Obama's nominee for Attorney General, yesterday, calling into question "the issue of [Holder's] character." "Sometimes it is more important for the attorney general to have the stature and the courage to say no instead of to say yes," Specter said, adding, "Further inquiry is warranted on the issue of Mr. Holder's independence to follow the facts without respect to political bias."

President-elect Obama has asked CNN's health care analyst Dr. Sanjay Gupta to be the next U.S. surgeon general. "Gupta would come to the post with an unparalleled public profile and background as a communicator." But Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman expresses concern about Gupta’s allegations that filmmaker Michael Moore "fudged the facts" in his movie SiCKO. (Watch the Gupta/Moore segment.)
Speaking of Leon Panetta’s qualifications to head the CIA, former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke remarked: "He was in the small handful of people who knew there was a terrorism problem long before anybody else had heard of al-Qaeda."

Today, President-elect Obama will join President Bush for a private meeting at the White House. They will then attend a luncheon with the three other living presidents -- Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter. It will be "the first time all the living presidents have gathered at the White House since 1981."
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters yesterday that the situation in Pakistan represents the biggest foreign policy challenge for the incoming Obama administration and despite the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, Iran will pose the biggest challenge for the United States in the Middle East.
Yesterday President-elect Obama warned of "trillion dollar deficits for years to come" unless policymakers "make a change in the way that Washington does business." But Obama also said that the new economic stimulus bill should contain no pork-barrel spending. "What I'm saying is, we're not having earmarks in the recovery package, period," Obama said.

"President Bush made another round of last-minute appointments Tuesday, giving 45 aides, supporters and others a parting gift as he leaves office: presidential appointments to boards and councils, with terms lasting three to six years after he leaves office." The appointments included Elliott Abrams, Michael Chertoff, and Michael Mukasey to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.

And finally: Comedian Will Ferrell will be reprising his hugely popular portrayal of President Bush. Ferrell will be starring in "You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush" at New York’s Cort Theater from Feb. 5-March 15, and will air on HBO at a later date. The show "will take a chronological look at Bush’s life, and Ferrell said that viewers should "expect the unexpected" from the performance.