The Wheels Come Off Bush's Presidency

by Mary

Outrage over Portgate is creating a perfect storm for Bush and his presidency. The controvesy has produced astonishingly strong anti-Bush fervor even among his formally most loyal followers. As William Greider wrote, Bush truly is reaping the whirlwind he whipped up in waging the war on terror.

Glenn Greenwald points out exactly how this particular episode undercuts the claims that Bush is the great defender of the nation.

• First of all, the controversy completely undercuts the idea that Bush can be trusted to make all decisions about how to conduct national security without any oversight. If Bush doesn't have total say over our port security, then John Yoo's theory of Presidential power has been shown to be inherently dangerous. Almost no one is willing to trust Bush on this issue.

  Additionally, it undercuts the arguments from Republican Senators that Bush has the authority to break the law to "protect" Americans and the Congress' role is to simply rubberstamp his decisions. Republicans are now seen as hypocritic abettors of the corrupt and dangerous Bush administration.



• Secondly, the Congress has gotten an absolutely clear message from Bush that he has nothing but contempt for the legislative branch.


• Third, Congress is now stuck between the Bush mafioso and their angry constituents. They have no option but to buck Bush on this matter.


• Fourth, Bush can't afford to back down. Glenn postulated that this is because Bush has convinced himself that he has the expansive powers he has claimed and he is too stubborn and delusional to admit he overstepped his bounds. However, I think there is even a more important problem: Bush can't afford to back down because he has built his Presidency on the premise that he is strong and resolute. If he is forced to backdown on this issue, his illusion of control will be broken and he no longer be able to keep people in line - much like Tom DeLay's problems have dissipated his ability to hammer people into submission. A bully that is shown to be weak can no longer command blind loyalty.

Finally, Glenn asks what should be the reaction of the oppositon when Bush has stumbled so badly. I believe that Democrats should exploit this opportunity to the max because our country has already suffered too much from Bush's policies and if we cannot get rid of him before 2009, we must stop him from being able to screw up our country and our world any further. He has proven himself to be a disasterous leader. Now is the time to strip him of his ability to influence our lives.

How do we do that? We stop him from having any more successes (which are always turned into failures of policy for Americans). Democrats must block everything that he puts forward. And we must demand accountability on all fronts. The calls for impeachment must be redoubled. And we can help by keeping the pressure on. Join with Jane Hamsher, John Amato and Glenn Greenwald in their campaign to force the Congress to deal with Bush's law breaking. It is long past time to demand transparency and accountability of our government officials.