With all the attention focused on Obama's (incoming) inauguration tomorrow, I'd like to take note of the other (outgoing) side: the departure of George W. Bush. Tonight we can all--at last--celebrate the last night of an eight-year downward slide in our country and the world. We could commemorate Bush's two terms in many different ways--the illegitimacy of his initial election, the warmongering, the civil liberties trampling, the cronyism and profiteering, the economic implosion, etc., etc., etc. But I'm inclined to follow Bill McKibben in speculating that the most enduring negative legacy of Bush's Presidency will be something few people seem to be talking about these days: the environment.
Any other thoughts on the eve of Bush's departure from the White House?
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I hope that Bush's legacy will be a suspicion of the efficacy--and morality--of military force, and a revival of investigative and critical journalism. (This second item will be assisted by technological changes that are killing print newspapers, and reviving the era of the pamphleteer, with low barriers of entry for those wishing to reach a wide audience for their views.)
I hope that the Bush administration is hung like an albatross around the necks of the "conservatives" that supported him, and that we won't have to deal with another of his ilk for a long, long time.
But I guess I'm cynical (or cyclical) enough to believe that sooner or later, more Bushes will come along, and we'll have to work hard to remind people just how awful they are.
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