The New Republic

I hate President George W. Bush. There, I said it. I think his policies rank him among the worst presidents in U.S. history. And, while I'm tempted to leave it at that, the truth is that I hate him for less substantive reasons, too. I hate the inequitable way he has come to his economic and political achievements and his utter lack of humility (disguised behind transparently false modesty) at having done so. READ MORE >>

There is a certain kind of voter who, perpetually discontented with the available candidates, projects his hopes onto some white knight. Inevitably, the prospective hoped-for savior declines to run (Mario Cuomo, Colin Powell) or, worse still, runs but turns out to be a loon (Ross Perot). General Wesley Clark, who appears all but certain to enter the Democratic primary, is the latest to attract the hopes of white-knight enthusiasts. Count me in.I admit to having indulged in this sort of unrequited longing READ MORE >>

Not long ago in these pages, I politely suggested that Democrats would have to be out of their gourds to nominate Howard Dean for president. Some Democratic strategists have made this case as well. The gist of the anti- Dean argument is this: President Bush maintains substantial popularity despite his plutocratic policies by cultivating an image of moral conviction and foreign policy toughness. Therefore, the ideal strategy to defeat the president is not to put up an opponent who became controversial even in Vermont READ MORE >>

Presumably, Karl Rove had no reason to believe his views would wind up in the press when he attended a Washington, D.C., Fourth of July parade as a spectator earlier this month. But, as a dozen supporters of Vermont Governor Howard Dean marched by, an environmental consultant named Daniel J. Weiss happened to overhear what Rove told a companion and relayed the powerful Bush adviser's commentary to The Washington Post. According to Weiss, Rove said, "Heh, heh, heh. Yeah, that's the one we want," and then cheered on READ MORE >>

To understand how deeply the United States has descended into fiscal madness, compare the present situation with the last time GOP tax-cutters ran Washington, the Reagan presidency. Just like George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan used his first year in office to enact a series of tax cuts tilted toward the well-off that helped plunge the nation into debt. For this, Reagan is remembered by both the right and left as an unflinching avatar of supply-side economics. READ MORE >>

The press has reported that the Iraqi regime spent the prewar months scrutinizing tapes of Black Hawk Down for military lessons. I've begun to suspect that they've also been studying White House press conferences. How else to explain the eerie similarity between the pedagogical styles of Saddam Hussein's chief spokesman, Mohammed Said Al Sahaf, and Ari Fleischer? READ MORE >>

When the Bush administration unveiled its proposed budget early last month, it made no provision at all for war with Iraq. At first, the White House defended this omission by asserting that war might not happen at all. READ MORE >>

When war with Iraq is complete, the lasting accusation against President George W. Bush is probably not going to be that he slaughtered innocent Iraqis or sacrificed American soldiers for cheap oil. It will be that, by going to war without express permission from the United Nations, he destroyed the rules and institutions of international order. The primary fury against this war is rooted in the sense that Bush has not merely made a tactical mistake by alienating needed allies, as some critics have charged, but has violated basic norms of international behavior. READ MORE >>

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It disappeared so quickly that it is easy to forget the bipartisan patriotism and common purpose that existed in Washington immediately after September 11, 2001. Perhaps the most memorable event from that period was the gathering of members of Congress from both parties on the steps of the Capitol to sing "God Bless America." Another such episode--little-noticed, but actually more remarkable--occurred the following month. Shut out of their offices due to anthrax attacks, Democrat David Obey and Republican Bill READ MORE >>