Goodbye, Mr. Bush (Sid Blumenthal's last column)

[kskiska]

The Republican will to power remains ferocious. It will take a dauntless Democratic leader to win back the White House and restore dignity to the Constitution.

Editor's note: Sidney Blumenthal is joining the Hillary Clinton campaign as a senior advisor, and this is his last column for Salon.

By Sidney Blumenthal

Nov. 15, 2007 | Under crisis conditions of an extraordinary magnitude political leadership of the highest level will be required in the next presidency. The damage is broad, deep and spreading, apparent not only in international disorder and violence, the unprecedented decline of U.S. prestige, and the flouting of our security and economic interests but also in the hollowing out of the federal government's departments and agencies, and their growing incapacity to fulfill their functions, from FEMA to the Department of Justice.

The more rigid the current president is in responding to the chaos he has fostered, the more the Republicans still supporting him rally around him as a pillar of strength. His flat learning curve, refusal to admit error and redoubling of mistakes are regarded as tests of his strong character. Whatever his low poll ratings of the moment, his stubborn adherence to failure is admired as evidence of his potency.

The patently perverse notion that weakness is strength is the basis of Bush's remaining credibility within his party. His abuse of presidential power is seen as his great asset rather than understood as his enduring weakness. But when the president assumes all the responsibility, he also receives all the blame, which becomes unitary and unilateral. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson stated the constitutional principle in the 1952 Youngstown Steel case: "When the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb. Presidential claim to a power at once so conclusive and preclusive must be scrutinized with caution, for what is at stake is the equilibrium established by our constitutional system."

In his waning year, Bush is pointedly indifferent to the predictable consequences of his collapse. According to those who have met with him recently, he envisions himself as a noble idealist having made moral decisions that will vindicate him generations from now.

more…
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/11/15/2008_election/

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. jr has been reduced to feckless veto-wimp

He's a truly sorry ass sob with Iraq tied to his tail. Fuck you dubbya.

[bleever]

2. A compelling first-person account of

his own conscience.

I hope that Hillary is able to transcend corporate gravity in the way that Blumenthal expects.

[Didereaux]

3. we have no other choice...

Others will scream, kick, and bigin foaming, but the truth is we have to trust the instincts of such as Blumenthal. My fear is that the whacko side of our party will go 'Naderite' and either not vote or vote for some idiot. The evidence so far seems to all support Blumenthals contentions in regards to the formation and continuation of an imperial presidency. With five of the last six administrations advancing that concept it may very well be that such a monstrosity is only one more away from permanent reality.

The future remains once again in the hands of an electorate without the intellectual capacity to deal with the complexities...let us hope that their primitive emotions are sufficient to carry the day.

[cornermouse]

4. Are you sure you stuffed enough insults in there toward your own party?

Maybe you better add a few more. :sarcasm:

[Ian_rd]

7. "We have no other choice"?

Are you saying this from a position of idealism that Hillary is the only candidate to restore our nation's democracy, or from a position of accepting the scraps from Murdoch's and Redstone's table?

I'll give you one thing, though. Blumenthal makes a good point about the skills needed to reverse Bush's damage:

Those who undertake the task of rebuilding the structure will be vulnerable to harsh political attacks as unpatriotic and subversive. Thus restoring American constitutional government after Bush demands the most strategic political and bureaucratic genius.

But that leaves the question: Would she use her political skills to that end? I haven't heard her on the campaign trail pledging to restore the balance of powers that our Constitution describes, or the rule of law, or for that matter our basic dignity. If I'm wrong please link me some speeches or positions of hers in that regard.

[flashl]

5. If you believe that one person is responsible ....

The damage is broad, deep and spreading, apparent not only in international disorder and violence, the unprecedented decline of U.S. prestige, and the flouting of our security and economic interests but also in the hollowing out of the federal government's departments and agencies, and their growing incapacity to fulfill their functions, from FEMA to the Department of Justice.

Then we have ALREADY accepted the notion of a unitary state.

[Fly by night]

6. In a democracy, requiring the consent of the governed (thru elections) is a force for moderation.

Everything Bush has done and is doing to "stay the course" when three-quarters of the American people oppose him on so many issues is evidence that neither he nor his remaining flying monkey minions fear the ballot box.

Soon, I expect another drunk Rethugligan to say (responding to a question re: the 2008 election)
"It's over. We've won. All that's left to do is to count the votes. And we're doing the counting."

That statement has been made before -- one year before the 2004 elections.

Losing control of our franchise has unleashed the mangy Rethugligan dogs of famine, disease, war and pestilence -- covered with the fleas of immorality, hypocrisy and incompetence.

We need to save our democracy by recapturing the franchise. That is what it will take (and, in my opinion, all it will take) to save this country.

We need to put these dogs down. One (accurately counted) vote at a time.

[Sean Stuart]

8. The infallible imperial president

Blumenthal touches very briefly on something that occurred to me several months ago:

"The imperial president must by definition be an infallible leader. Only he can determine what is a mistake because he is infallible."

Herein lies a brief glimpse into the right-wing mind. These millions of the Republican base voters who are perfectly aware of the unconstitutional powers that this president has taken have no issue with such dangerous power-grabs because Bush is a leader whom they consider moral and just. Deep down, they are not democrats (small "d"), but rather they crave what the Book of Revelation predicts: A totalitarian regime of the divine.

I'm certain that these people would feel quite differently about a President Hillary Clinton who has the power to ignore and change laws with her own authority, imprison and torture without trial, and spy without oversight or warrant. But because the current president is a man whom they consider to be a "good Christian man," it is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, it is to be applauded and he (He?) is to be praised because of it.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. K&R

[MasonJar]

10. Obviously a certifiably psychopathic, sociopathic, Narcississtic,

delusional Big Brother, headed straight for Dante's ninth circle of the Inferno. At this point his numbers are so low that he can only con himself...and even that by being basically braindead from alcohol and drugs.