Wednesday, January 30, 2008
History will judge Bush harshly
From the RoundTable blog
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Theodore Fuller
Fuller is a professor of sociology at Virginia Tech and lives in Blacksburg.
President Bush has begun his last year in office, his lame-duck year. What will his legacy be?
Will his legacy be the war in Iraq -- a lasting peace, Iraq as a beacon of democracy in the Middle East? That appears doubtful.
Iraq is still plagued by a civil war and Islamic terrorists -- ironically, conditions that did not exist in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Most Americans view the war as a mistake. Many Middle East experts argue that the war has destabilized the Middle East, in part by mobilizing the Shiite minorities in many Middle Eastern countries against the Sunni who are dominant in most Moslem countries. (Iraq was dominated by a Sunni minority prior to the U.S. invasion.)
Since Iraq has a Shiite majority, it is entirely conceivable that Iraq may align itself with Iran, which is also predominantly Shiite. Many experts say that Iran already has more influence in Iraq than does the United States. Under Saddam, Iraq and Iran were enemies, which was useful for the United States.
How about reform of Social Security? The Social Security system faces daunting financial problems and was identified as one of Bush's main priorities after the 2004 election. Unfortunately, Bush's only "solution" was partial privatization, which was in fact no solution. Fortunately, his proposal never got much traction.
How about tax cuts? I'm sure the top 10 percent of Americans are very grateful for those cuts. As the current near-recession suggests, the tax cuts didn't help the overall economy or average Americans. Due in part to the tax cuts for the wealthy, the national debt now stands as $9.2 trillion, compared to $5.7 trillion when President Bush took office.
How about the strength of the dollar? The dollar has lost about 35 percent of its value against the Euro since 2001.
How about enhancing America's prestige and respect in the world? Sadly, both have been greatly damaged by the war in Iraq, torture, Abu Ghraib, "extraordinary renditions," Guantanamo and the like.
No, Bush's greatest legacy is his refusal to take global warming seriously. While he has admitted that global warming is occurring and that it is due, in part, to human activity, he has done next to nothing to respond to this threat.
The United States has the dubious distinction of being the greatest producer of greenhouse gases. Our national government should be a world leader in devising solutions to this problem, yet it is AWOL. Instead, Bush has done everything he could to muzzle government scientists who are knowledgeable about global warming, and virtually nothing to mitigate the effects of global warming.
Our cities and states, the private sector and European nations are taking the lead on fighting global warming, while Bush has squandered seven years in which great strides could have been taken.
There was a broad scientific consensus on global warming before Bush took office. The evidence of the effects of global warming has become even stronger in the past seven years. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. That is nothing compared to Bush's refusal to confront the reality of global warming.
I suspect that as the effects of global warming inexorably become more severe, history will judge him harshly for his deliberate failure to act.
