Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Il peggior presidente della storia

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/193218_williams01.html?searchpagefrom=
1&searchdiff=1
Friday, October 1, 2004
Bush's first term scores last
By WALTER WILLIAMS
GUEST COLUMNIST
Based on my assessment of George W. Bush's presidency in columns over
the past five days, I have concluded that his first term should rate
near the bottom among all the presidents since 1789:
President Bush's economic record -- the worst in the postwar years --
has put the broad middle class in serious economic jeopardy.
His administration's gross incompetence in Iraq has left the United
States bogged down in a Vietnam-like quagmire while increasing world
terrorism.
By favoring big-money interests, Bush has entrenched plutocratic
governance and diminished democracy.
Bush retains a far better image than his record warrants by repeatedly
duping the public through the suppression of contradictory information
and the employment of deceptive statements and lies. Douglas Jehl in
the Sept. 16 New York Times wrote:
       "A classified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for
        President Bush in late July spells out a dark assessment for
        Iraq, government officials said. The estimate outlines three
        possibilities for Iraq through 2005, with the worst case being
        developments that could lead to civil war, the officials said.
        The most favorable outcome described is an Iraq whose stability
        would remain tenuous in political, economic and security terms."
Once the government's own estimate was uncovered after being
suppressed for nearly two months, Bush on the campaign trail ignored
his own government's pessimistic evaluation of Iraq and said: "This
country is headed toward democracy. Freedom is on the march."
The administration has not simply put a better spin on bad news; it
has constructed a lie out of whole cloth. Bush and his minions hammer
it into believability by repetition and a relentless defense of the
claim.
The propaganda works so well because it plays to the public's two big
fears. First is the threat of a terrorist attack that the
administration stokes with the horrible images of Sept. 11. Second
is the danger of their comfortable myths being shattered. Just like
Ronald Reagan, the Bush administration has employed the politics of
unreality with great success.
The optimistic Reagan restored confidence during the 1981-82 recession
by depicting an America he believed in wholeheartedly, but in fact no
longer existed -- an America without limits.
Bush propagandists operated more cynically, based on their confidence
that Americans will embrace an optimistic unreality rather than a myth
-- challenging truth, no matter how hard the evidence. When critics
point to the actual reality, Bush spinners tarnish them with the sin
of pessimism.
If the politics of unreality prevails and the American people cling to
the administration's deception and lies, Bush will be re-elected. What
can be expected in Bush's second term?
One part of the answer is more of the same because true believers are
undeterred by reality. Worse, winning a second term can be read as a
mandate to press on even more vigorously toward the Bush objectives.
The Bush propagandists will continue to paint Iraq as a success, as it
moves toward a quagmire worse than Vietnam. While in the United
States, plutocracy likely will become more entrenched and democracy
becomes more myth than reality.
Bush's tax policies threaten the economic security of more and more of
the broad middle class. A Sept.14 Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities report indicates that the average tax reductions in 2004
from the earlier Bush tax legislation were $123,592 for millionaires;
$34,992, for the top 1 percent of the population; and $647 for the
middle 20 percent of the population.
It also pointed out that, measured as a share of the total economy,
federal tax revenues this year drop to their 1959 level and individual
income tax revenues, to their 1943 level. The CBPP report concluded
that "we cannot run today's government on these revenue levels" because
most of the current social and environment programs did not exist in 1959.
I confess to pessimism. Bush's tax policies have put ordinary citizens
at great economic risk. I fear that the American government will not
maintain democracy and will fail the great bulk of its citizens in
their quest for a secure middle-class status at work and in retirement.
The overriding need is a full dose of hard facts about the real problems
of a nation with severe limits now and in the future. Then, the electorate
must accept this uncomfortable reality and the politicians act on it.
My closing admonition is: Demand the facts and vote in your family's
real interests. If you ignore the clear dangers by opting for a
glowing unreality, welcome aboard for a calamitous second term.
Finally, just be clear that Cassandras are not always wrong. And
Bush's Trojan horse is at the gate.
Walter Williams is a professor emeritus at the University of
Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs and is the
author of "Reaganism and the Death of Representative Democracy."

near the bottom among all the presidents since 1789:
Azz...  Allora abbiamo detto tutto! :)
Ipse dixit!
*LOL*
-Stefano

 *LOL*
Beh, come dici tu in news:415998A3...@people.it...
"E' una [sua] opinione che tu non sei in grado di smentire in alcun
modo. Indi per cui dovresti vagliare una simile non remota possibilita'
Namib

modo. Indi per cui dovresti vagliare una simile non remota possibilita'
C'e' una bella differenza tra una "opinione" e l'affermare che e' "il
peggio presidente della storia". :)
Oltretutto per smentire ci vorrebbe qualcosa di piu' di una affermazione
senza nulla a sostegno :)
-Stefano

 wrote in message
news:uys7d.18913$H11.5...@twister1.libero.it...

#_DING-G-G-G-G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
assisteremo ad un'altra fuga insieme ad Eolo ????
Giano

 peggio presidente della storia".
E qual è? Un IMO? Visualizzalo: "I have concluded that his first term should
rate
near the bottom among all the presidents since 1789". "*I* have concluded":
è una *sua*(rispettabilissima e condivisibile, IMO) opinione. Ora (posto tu
abbia compreso quanto scritto
nell'art., nonostante le tue ben note difficoltà; cfr.
400C1EF4...@people.it
) ti è tutto chiaro?
Namib

E qual č? Un IMO? Visualizzalo:
Scusami ma riporta quello che scrivi tu e che e' ben diverso da quello
che ha scritto l'autore.
Infatti "near the bottom" e "il peggior" sono due cose ben diverse.
-Stefano

 Infatti "near the bottom" e "il peggior" sono due cose ben diverse.
OK. Vada per "near the bottom". Contento?
Namib