Presidential Concerns

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President Bush is off to less than a flying start in his second term. Besides the success of the elections in Iraq on Sunday, he has a slew of nagging problems, any one of which might derail his presidency.

With that thought in mind, I sat down and wrote up a list of the things George W. Bush might be worried about. They are roughly in order of importance. I hope he’s taking notes because I don’t think he will last all four years of his second term unless he addresses at least some of them properly.

Any one of these issues could blow up in the president’s face and accelerate the dismantling of his administration. Of course, considering this administration’s performance thus far, they seem perfectly capable of just about any bungle imaginable and could self implode at any moment.

Iraq: Nothing can top the troubles one encounters when invading a sovereign nation. Make no doubt about it, the United States aggressively invaded Iraq - and without good reason.

The impetus for the invasion, despite what we were told and retold (another story), was oil, plain and simple. Why was Dick Cheney so secretive about those high level energy meetings in 2001? Why is our energy policy a secret? Could it be that what Cheney and the heads of big oil companies were discussing - at least in part - the oil riches of the Middle East and how after conquering Iraq, we’d be looking to destabilize other countries in the region, like Saudi Arabia and Iran? After all, the Saudis, Iraqis and Iranians sit atop the largest proven oil reserves - about 35% of the world total.

Not only is the truth about our invasion of Iraq becoming clearer to thinking people every day, the success of the mission is in serious doubt. Forget about the elections this coming Sunday, that’s a farce. Our military will stay in Iraq as long as there is oil to defend. Count on Bush keeping over 100,000 soldiers in the line of fire through 2008.

As it is, the U.S. Army’s chief of operations, Lt. General. James Lovelace, has publicly stated that the Army will keep 120,000 soldiers in Iraq through 2006.

The longer we stay, the more difficult it is going to be for the administration to continue lying about why we’re there. As it is, 54% the US public disagree with Bush’s Iraq policy according to a recent Los Angeles Times poll.

John Conyers and the Illegitimate Election: The 2004 election was a complete sham. The number of irregularities - not only in Ohio, but in many other states as well - are of sufficient quantity to warrant a congressional investigation. Only John Conyers and some of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee had the courage to hold hearings on the matter back in November and December.

Their findings were expansive - over 100 pages - and Conyers is pressing on, trying to persuade the committee chairman, James Sensenbrenner, to convene full hearings, complete with subpoena power and severe consequences for wrongdoers. Adherenets of history always note that Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign after a Select Senate Committee held hearings and John Dean blew the whistle long after the original crime AND his re-election.

Conyers will press on and he is worthy of everyone’s support. (This is the one area in which I am most actively involved. There’s a lot of information on my site.)

The fact that Congressman John Conyers has written to Chairman Sensenbrenner, urging him to convene full hearings has been overlooked by the media, as usual, but reference is made to the it in this Blue Lemur interview from January 20.

Torture and Alberto Gonzalez: Today the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along straight party lines to send the confirmation vote of Alberto Gonzalez for the office of Attorney General to the full Senate.

STRAIGHT PARTY LINES! You’ve got to be kidding. Despite the overtones of partisan politics, are we to believe that there isn’t a Republican on that committee who believes Gonzalez, on the basis of his memos concerning torture, isn’t fit to head the Justice Department?

After the scandals at Abu Gharib and Guantanamo, torturing prisoners has become nearly a policy imperative under this administration. Not only is Gonzalez a horrible choice for Attorney General, he’s a bad choice as a human being if he thinks torturing anybody is somehow justified.

There are groups - too numerous to mention - that have accused Bush, Rumsfeld and others of war crimes and are pressing for justice. These scandals will not go away easily and the torture, unfortunately, probably hasn’t stopped yet. Not only is this issue hugely damaging to Bush and his cronies, it threatens to bring it down completely.

Rumsfeld, the Pentagon and the NeoCon Cabal: From running his mouth about "the army you wish you had," when he was embarrassed by questions involving armor for vehicles in Iraq to denials about the use of torture on prisoners, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has become a threat not only to people all around the world but to the American people, to himself and to the president.

9/11: There are growing numbers of people who would like a better explanation of the events of September 11, 2001, beyond the whitewash of the 9/11 commission. To many, it’s a stretch that Bush and his top aides had advance knowledge of the attacks and cold have prevented them, but the sheer volume of unexplained evidence, the stonewalling and posturing by the administration and the overall failures of the intelligence and military are compelling.

Social Security Overhaul: Bush’s plan to allow up to 2/3rd’s of Social Security deductions to be used in "private accounts" will never fly. The American public is already viewing it as a hand-out to Wall Street brokerages and banks and a colossal bureaucratic boondoggle.

The more the administration trumpets the argument that Social Security is in crisis, the more evidence is presented that the president’s plan will only make it worse. The president is serious about looting the Treasury and robbing every man and woman of a retirement cushion, and he’s being less than subtle about it.

His suggested reform will never pass even the simplest of smell tests. It stinks.

Homeland Security: After the Bernie Kerick fiasco torpedoed both his career and that of Rudy Giuliani (good riddance!), the president’s people trotted out Michael Chertof, who has little management experience, possible ties to terrorists, and looks scarier than the people from whom he’s supposed to be protecting us.

With that, the 2nd in command at Homeland Security, Asa Hutchison, quit because he was passed over twice for the top job. With Tom Ridge ready to go if not already gone, who’s minding the store? The whole gigantic, monolithic agency is an absurd abstraction anyway. All the Office of Homeland Security does is make silly rules, issue alerts which everyone ignores and otherwise screw over local police, fire and security operations.

Interestingly, ever since Bush has been "elected" to a second term, the Office of Homeland Security hasn’t issued any alerts or color-coded warnings. Not even one on New Year’s Eve or for the inauguration. Big surprise! The terror threat is as phony as everything else this administration promotes and the Department of Homeland Security is quite possibly the president’s biggest and most visible failure.

Osama bin Laden: The devil himself is still hiding. President Bush will be asking Congress for another $80 Billion in supplemental funding for Iraq and the war on terror (well, for Iraq, Haliburton and Bechtel, that is) which will bring the total expenditures on our military adventurism to roughly $300 Billion.

Now, $300 Billion is a lot of money. It’s more than $1000 for every inhabitant of the US, legal or otherwise - but that’s another story.

If we had spent $300 Billion trying to catch Osama bin Laden instead of promoting democracy (the new mantra), he’d be in custody by now, if not long ago. Truth is, the president doesn’t want to catch or kill him. Osama is a very useful tool for the president. Any time W gets in a jam, he can call on Osama to issue a fatwa or make multiple scary threats against the United States.

Let’s face it, Osama works for the president, and if the truth about the Bush family and the bin Laden family ties ever become widely circulated, the game will be over for both of them.

Mainstream Media, Talk Radio and the Internet: It’s no secret that the mainstream media, including the TV networks CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS and FOX and newspapers like the Washington Post and New York Times have been more than just kind to Mr. Bush; they have been downright biased.

It became obvious that the media was in the bag in the days after the election; while the internet was ablaze with stories alleging fraud, disenfranchisement and widespread irregularities, the mainstream media, in a sorry display of contempt for the public trust, investigated nothing, reported nothing, and failed miserably.

Even today, the networks refuse to speak critically of the war in Iraq, the torture of prisoners, the folly of the elections there, or any other issue that might besmirch the presidential image. Meanwhile, Air America Radio is growing, the internet bloggers, writers and web sites continue to wail away in opposition to the president’s policies.

Sooner or later, something will go boom. Either an internet reporter will uncover the smoking gun or one of the media elites will blow their cover and speak out. Tom Brokaw has already left the nightly news and Dan Rather will follow in March. Maybe one of them will find a conscience (doubtful). That leaves Peter Jennings - who used to be a Canadian, is now an American, but always has been an elitist - as the sole experienced anchor on any network nightly news show. Their credibility is gone. The ascendancy of internet journalism is upon us.

Congressional Allies and Opponents: The president has plenty of allies in the Congress. More than half of that formerly reputable body is Republican, in both houses, so George usually gets his way, regardless of what the American people desire. Meanwhile, the Democrats are putting up fights when and where they can, but they’re outnumbered.

At the very least, his most vociferous opponents make noise and keep the public thinking and acting. The day may come when a few Republicans stop seeing eye to eye on every stupid, lame, idiotic idea the president trots up to Capitol Hill and take a stand with the Democrats. If that ever happens, it will be all over for Bush and his buddies. There have been a number of outcries from less-than-totally-committed Republicans, but not enough to make a difference yet.

Foreign Leaders: Once Condoleezza Rice begins meeting with foreign leaders, expect widespread displeasure in the diplomatic corps - both our own and those of foreign nations with whom she will be dealing. Such displeasure will surely not escape the notice of leaders around the world and they may not be as accommodating to the administration as they were during the first term.

Bush will be traveling to Europe in February and what is said to him by Chirac, Putin and others may also not be so kind. They may begin calling him names normally reserved for dictators, liars and fascists, like dictator, liar and fascist.

It could be very entertaining.

The Supreme Court: It was nice to see Justice Rehnquist at the president’s inaugural, unless you were George W. Bush. Rehnquist is old and frail and suffering from thyroid cancer and the president can’t wait to appoint his replacement.

If the Chief Justice doesn’t submit to the president’s wishes and pass away quietly, he may be pressured to step down; that’s how brash and impolite this president can be. There are other members of the court who may be leaving during the next four years and Bush is sure to try to replace them with ultra-right wing Christian conservative moralists. Naturally, they’ll need no knowledge of Constitutional Law, according to Bush, just as long as they understand his agenda.

Any court appointments are certain to meet a serious challenge in the Senate.

The Economy, Deficits and Debt: The president has promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his second term, but, as usual, he’s failed to be specific. Using the president’s fuzzy numbers, he could mean that he’ll run huge deficits for three years and then cut the last one in half. He didn’t say he’d ever run a surplus to actually reduce the overall deficit as that would require real governing instead of what he does.

Sadly, the vast majority of American people don’t know exactly what the deficits are, and don’t really care. They love the lower tax rates and that’s why Bush has any support at all. Raising taxes might scare a few of his supporters away, so he’ll never do it. He’ll gladly leave an enormous budgetary mess to the next REAL president.

At some point, people are going to get fed up with him throwing around of billions here and there, willy-nilly, and make him accountable. Bankrupting the country is a violation of his oath of office and he could be impeached just for that. If the Congress had any backbone at all, they’d refuse every budget request until he brought them one that was balanced. I’m dreaming, and I know it, but it’s an issue that doesn’t get nearly enough attention.

Former Administration Officials: Lots of administration folks left government employ after the first term, and many of them will likely be penning memoirs shortly. Topping the list is Colin Powell, who announced his desire to step down as Secretary of State shortly after the election. This news was no doubt welcome to the president, who quickly nominated his hand-puppet, Condoleezza Rice to succeed him. Rice was confirmed today.

But Powell’s memoirs may be more scathing than anyone expects, now that he no longer has any allegiance to Bush, Cheney, et. al. Why would his son, Michael, step down from his FCC post, if not to remove himself from the line of fire?

There may be books and memoirs by others, but Powell’s may be the most memorable and critical of the president.

The American Public: Here, way down the list are the more than 280,000,000 people known as Americans. We the people. We have the power to elect and reject public officials and the polls tell us there are more of us who want to get rid of Mr. Bush than those who wish him to stay, so why don’t we do something about it?

Unfortunately, we have no voice to rally around, no Dr. Martin Luther King or Kennedy to lead us to the promised land. We are a diverse people, a good people, an honest people, and we’ve been snookered. We are promised one thing and delivered another. We’re lied to, misled, misinformed, under represented and misunderstood. If all of us shouted at once it wouldn’t matter. But the protesters at the inauguration and elsewhere around the country did us all proud, as they say. And there will be more protests, more signs, more articles like this and more pressure on the president to give up, get out, go away and for Congress to act responsibly and stop the president in his tracks.

Some of us won’t give up without a fight, and haven’t given up just because the fight isn’t fair. We are the ultimate solution. When enough of us have had enough, we will act, hopefully. How much we will tolerate has already been established. We’ve put up with this impostor for four years and many are ready to put up with him for another four. Some of us won’t allow for that. We need a place, a time - because we already have a purpose - that will unite us and tell the world what we think of George W. Bush - that he’s a liar, a fascist, and that he’s not our president.

The president has bitten off quite a bit and he may have to swallow these problems whole.

God help us.

The author, Rick Gagliano, is the publisher of Downtown Magazine, available on the web at http://www.dtmagazine.com.

Mr. Gagliano is opposed to all of Bush’s policies and supports immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and impeachment of president George W. Bush and vice president Richard Cheney. Those two, and various members of their administration should also be tried by international tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity.