Like he's not already the president

[tomfodw]

As many people have noted, Bush's speech last night was basically an attempt to pretend that he hasn't been the president for the past 4 years, at least as far as a domestica agenda goes. He really doesn't care about anything other than tax cuts and invading Iraq. He's accomplished both, so what does he want to be reelected for, other than so he can boast that he did what his daddy couldn't do?

For all the fear of the implications of his "ownership society" bullshit, in fact if he somehow gets re(s)elected, he won't have the energy to do anything about any of the items he garbled and rushed over last night. He does not care. And he expects the voters not to care either.

[gratuitous]

1. I swiped this off of Kos, who swiped part of it from Slate

For $2.4 trillion, guess what word--other than "a," "and," and "the"--occurs most frequently in the acceptance speech George W. Bush delivered tonight. The word is "will." It appears 76 times. This was a speech all about what Bush will do, and what will happen, if he becomes president.

Except he already is president. He already ran this campaign. He promised great things. They haven't happened. So, he's trying to go back in time. He wants you to see in him the potential you saw four years ago. He can't show you the things he promised, so he asks you to envision them. He asks you to be "optimistic." He asks you to have faith <...>

Recession. Unemployment. Corporate fraud. A war based on false premises that has cost us $200 billion and nearly a thousand American lives. They're all hills we've "been given to climb." It's as though Bush wasn't president. As though he didn't get the tax cuts he wanted. As though he didn't bring about postwar Iraq and authorize the planning for it. All this was "given," and now Bush can show up, three and a half years into his term, and start solving the problems some other president else left behind.

Nice. Let's not let the public forget that Bush has had carte blanche the last four years, with a friendly Congress for the majority of his presidency.

And everything the president has gotten has turned to shit. The guy is a menace, especially when he gets what he wants.

[StClone]

3. The "Promises President"

Great point!

Also, if it is so difficult fighting Al Qeadda(terrorism), finding Ossam, occupying Iraq, making jobs etc. why is Bush either on vacation, giving fund raisers or talking at rallies or hanging with Republican Rangers. When does he make these decisions and when does he find time to be informed on them?

It's obvious to me that he is either shooting from the hip or not making the decisions. Both dangerous.

[CarolynEC]

2. I think this is a great thread, and an important idea we should keep alive

JK has made an issue of it, too.

The point is: Everything Bush says or does is just an election-year-stunt.

He has failed to accomplish anything in nearly four years, but now we're supposed to believe he's suddenly brimming with all sorts of great ideas for America?

We've seen how you keep your "promises," George. It's going to take a lot more than some last-minute campaign rhetoric to salvage your credibility.

[tomfodw]

4. Why didn't he try to do any of this stuff the past 4 years?

He's been president, he's had a friendly Congress. Other than his tax cuts and the ensuing deficit, underfunding No Child Left Behind, underfunding his own AIDS initiative, passing a dreadful farm subsidies act, giving some protectionist breaks to favored industries, gutting environmental protection, allowing media consolidation to accelerate, making a half-hearted effort to open up ANWR to drilling, and the PATRIOT Act, what exactly has he done domestically? Man, that's a record to run on!

No wonder he's trying to pretend like this is his first time at bat. Asshole. The media are assholes for buying it, and America's the biggest asshole of all if they let him get away with it.

[bossfish]

6. Like Jon Stewart said last night...

(paraphrase)

"...how do you expect us to govern when we only control the congress, the supreme court and the White House?"

[pansypoo53219]

5. just remember georgie's own words

fool me once, shame on you, uh....won't be fooled again.