Washington Post OpEd: Bush is Worst President Ever

From the dailykos.com (dmsilev's diary)...

'The story, written by Columbia professor Eric Foner, will be on the first page of the Sunday Outlook section in tomorrow's Post.'

'The title, "He's the Worst Ever" really says it all, but on to the text:'

Several choice excerpts:

"Despite some notable accomplishments in domestic and foreign policy, Nixon is mostly associated today with disdain for the Constitution and abuse of presidential power. Obsessed with secrecy and media leaks, he viewed every critic as a threat to national security and illegally spied on U.S. citizens. Nixon considered himself above the law."

"Bush has taken this disdain for law even further. He has sought to strip people accused of crimes of rights that date as far back as the Magna Carta in Anglo-American jurisprudence: trial by impartial jury, access to lawyers and knowledge of evidence against them. In dozens of statements when signing legislation, he has asserted the right to ignore the parts of laws with which he disagrees. His administration has adopted policies regarding the treatment of prisoners of war that have disgraced the nation and alienated virtually the entire world. Usually, during wartime, the Supreme Court has refrained from passing judgment on presidential actions related to national defense. The court's unprecedented rebukes of Bush's policies on detainees indicate how far the administration has strayed from the rule of law."

"Historians are loath to predict the future. It is impossible to say with certainty how Bush will be ranked in, say, 2050. But somehow, in his first six years in office he has managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors. I think there is no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history."

MrKen paraphases Gore Vidal, being interviewed this past week on the 'Tavis Smiley' show,

"President Wilson also had delusions of grandeur and steered the United States into World War I to "make the world safe for democracy" (whatever that meant)."***

"But unlike George W. Bush, at least Wilson could read and write."

***Of course Great Britain, our great ally in World War I, was the nineteenth & early twentieth century's premier colonial power, and fought everywhere to impede and restrain democracy around the world (MrKen).

To read more, please follow this link: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/2/101437/519