OBAMA AND THE BUSH LEGACY: A SCORECARD
by John Cassidy
The New Yorker
June 1, 2012
 

With two George Bushes and their wives visiting the White House today for the unveiling of George W.’s official portrait, how much of the Bush legacy remains in place? The election of 2008 was a classic “time for a change” contest, in which Americans picked a fresh-faced young senator to replace an increasingly haggard and unpopular President. Three and a half years later, what’s different?

Some things are; some aren’t. Here is a quick (and far from definitive) scorecard. But first, a warning: this isn’t an exercise in judging Obama. In some areas, such as dealing with the Supreme Court, he was powerless to undo Bush’s handiwork. In other areas, such as Afghanistan, he set out to complete Bush’s agenda rather than overturn it. But it’s always interesting to compare Presidencies and to try and figure out what, if anything, they leave behind that’s lasting. So here goes...

 

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US at War Since 1950: A New Year's Meditation

Saturday 01 January 2011

US Army Soldiers gather around a fire to stay warm during an operation in Helmand province, Afghanistan in February of 2010. (Photo: The U.S. Army / flickr)

"The same war continues," Denise Levertov wrote in her poem, "Life at War." Her lament is even more appropriate for 2011 than it was when she wrote the poem forty-five years ago.

Columnists and academics, including international relations professor Andrew Bacevich of Boston University, are finally acknowledging facts familiar to anyone "awake" regarding failed US policies, wasted lives and wasted resources during this period. Willfully ignoring such facts, as Bacevich wrote, "is to become complicit in the destruction of what most Americans profess to hold dear."

At the beginning of the new year, consequences of "life at war" stare us in the face: the victimization of military and civilian populations and a huge national debt, including an annual military budget that is larger than all military budgets in the world combined and includes $5 billion that remains unaccounted for in Iraq, as well as aid to Pakistan that has wound up in the hands of the Taliban.

These truths haunt any citizen who has lost loved ones in prolonged wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan since 1950, or in disastrous interventions in Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Chile, Granada, Panama, Honduras, and so on.

Any responsible citizen acknowledges this painful history in the hope of redirecting US foreign policy in the future. The purpose of reclaiming it is not to open old wounds, but to encourage legislative and direct action committed to peacemaking. It is a call to critique the policies and competence of the Pentagon, the CIA, and the national security apparatus responsible for these disasters.

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