THE Bush/Cheney legacy . . . aren't they embarrassed?

WASHINGTON, D.C. July 17, 2008 – In an exclusive interview today with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, House speaker Nancy Pelosi called President George W. Bush a ‘total failure’ a man with ‘no ideas’.

The Speaker’s unusually candid comments were apparently part of her response to the President’s criticism earlier this week of Congress’ inability to complete its legislative agenda prior to leaving for its month long summer recess.

Pelosi didn’t hold back when she said, “You know, God bless him, bless his heart, the president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject.”

The Speaker went on to say that the House and Senate were “trying to sweep up after Bush’s mess over and over and over again. The president knows it. He needs something to talk about because he has no ideas.”

In light of Pelosi’s remarks, some Americans wonder why George W. Bush and Dick Cheney don’t seem to be at all embarrassed by the following partial list of unfinished work, misdirected policies, and unprecedented series of problems at home and abroad they’re leaving to the next Administration:

THE ECONOMY

• National Debt approaching $9.6 Trillion – each man, woman, and child in the U.S. owes $31,600.10 as of today
• The Federal Budget Deficit approaching $482 billion
• The U.S. Dollar trading at all time lows against foreign currencies
• Oil at $116.33, compared to $33.51 per barrel on the day the United States invaded Iraq
• Gasoline selling for over $4.00 per gallon compared to $1.45 per gallon when George W. Bush was inaugurated in January, 2001
• Home values declining by as much as 30% to 40% across the country
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 2,000 points this year over its highest point last year
• Four million Americans facing home foreclosures
• Major financial institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in financial trouble
• Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors edging closer and closer to bankruptcy
• Unemployment rate climbing month after month
• A crumbling infrastructure with airports, bridges, dams, highways, pipelines, schools, and sewer and water systems falling apart with no plan and no funding

FOREIGN WARS/THE WAR ON TERROR

• 4,147 precious American lives lost in Iraq 5 years after the U.S. invasion and occupation
• Nearly 30,000 Americans wounded in Iraq
• 60,000 U.S. troops held in place by arbitrary stop-loss measures in Iraq
• $600 billion borrowed by the Bush Administration of an estimated $3 trillion to fund the Iraq war (compared to the Bush Administration’s pre-war estimate of $50-60 billion)
• An estimated 95,000 Iraqi civilian casualties since the U.S. invaded Iraq
• Nearly 5 million Iraqi refugees inside and outside the country
• Efforts to fight al-Qaida in Afghanistan compromised by the diversion of troops, equipment, money, and strategic focus on Iraq

WHAT NEXT?

So what do we do now? Elect another President, Vice-President, and another batch of Representatives and Senators, then get back to ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘American Idol’ while we hope for the best?

Isn’t that what we did in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006?

How’s that working out for us?

Look . . . we’re Americans . . . we don’t have to get ripped off by our so-called leaders. We have the power to put a stop to this cycle of incompetence and graft!

The founding fathers didn’t constitute the government of the United States of America to be the playground of multi-millionaire politicians, lobbyists, and crooks who play at governing and steal us blind while we sit back and download our iPods and play the ‘Legend of Zelda’ and ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’.

The power of government comes from ‘consent of the governed’ (that’s us) which means we’re supposed to assign and monitor the powers we give to Representatives, Senators, and the President.

If every Congressperson, every Senator, the President, the Vice-President, and the Cabinet knew we were monitoring their initiatives, schedules, voting records, and work habits, they wouldn’t have time or energy to waste on lobbyists, special interests, or self interests.

Would they?

Copyright © 2008 by l.t. Dravis. All rights reserved.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, Email me at LTDAssociates@msn.com (goes right to my desk) and since I personally answer every Email, I look forward to hearing from you soon.