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Tuesday, December 2. 2008
Early Check Out
Does anyone remember George W. Bush? He’s the current president. Hard to remember that as the Treasury Secretary, the Chairman of the Fed and the incoming administration-in-waiting are making all the decisions and the focus is on them, not the current occupant of the White House.Next year, no doubt, when Merriam-Webster’s publishes their latest dictionary, there will be a new picture along side the definition of “lame duck.” And it won’t be the Aflak character with a broken foot.
Well, it could be, anything’s possible.
Other than give his okay for the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector, President has done very little, if anything, relating to his job in the past 11 months. Oh, last Wednesday he pardoned a couple turkeys, but other than that, Bush has been remarkably silent. Some might actually applaud this, but what does it say about a president who at the very least isn’t trying to buoy the spirits of the nation with words of encouragement.
Three months ago there was some serious speculation about what Bush might do, in the form of Executive Orders, to undermine an Obama presidency. Yeah, three months ago we were already expecting an Obama presidency, not so much McCain.
Then, just a couple weeks ago, we found out Bush had “checked out,” according to anonymous White House sources and was leaving the trouble of governing to his staff. Makes your head spin just thinking of it. Hell, with the automatic signature machine, Bush doesn’t even have to sign anything, just have his staff run whatever it is through the machine and voila! A new policy is set to take effect!
On the other hand, with 80% of the populace convinced you are the worst president in history, why not just say, “fuck it” and let someone else take care of business? Ya have that big house with the nice yard for the dogs to run around in, a staff attuned to satisfy your every whim … damn, I’d be a most immoral president … and a kitchen staffed with Michelin three star chefs who like nothing better than to show off their skills without taking any public bows. Damn! I could have … I’m getting dizzy just fantasizing about it! Ever wonder: does the White House kitchen staff ever cook on a bunch of Webers for an outdoor barbeque? Throw a hundred pounds of rib eyes on, with about 20 pounds of chicken, maybe a couple lobster tails for every attendee to the soirée, not to mention skewers of some tasty veggies, finished off with toasted marshmallows on sticks.
And some Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. We know he had barbeque when he visited Germany in the summer of 2006.
Yeah, if I was not thought of in at least lukewarm terms by the populace, I’d check out too and leave the heavy lifting to the fuckin’ aids who got me into this mess — except for Cheney. “He started all this and who knows what he could do if given unfettered power. We’ve already been down that road and now look where we are — being compared to Herbert Hoover! Laura, who’s Herbert Hoover?”
According to Congressional records, the lame duck administration has over 100 of these “midnight” orders set to go, some have already been put in motion. Like the decision to open up public land in Utah to energy exploration — within spitting distance of three very sensitive national parks: Canyonlands, Arches and Dinosaur National Monument. Places like Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile Canyon that have some of the most spectacular vistas in America as well as ancient petroglyphs.
The Bureau of Land Management put the tracts of land up for auction on December 19, just 17 days away now, bypassing the usual review given by the Park Service. The problem with this decision is that if any of the tracts are sold, neither the incoming president nor Congress will be in a position to reverse the sales.
Utah was chosen because the populace, or at least their elected representatives, have always looked for ways to exploit whatever natural resources might be in the state and in 1999, when President Clinton set aside about three million acres as being wilderness, they got a little upset. Lucky for those who opposed it, Bush reversed that Clinton regulation in 2003. They had a war to start so what better time to hide it.
The question is, can Congress or the incoming president reverse some of the most damaging Bush policies? Back when Clinton was president, the Republican majority in Congress passed a law that would give Congress the authority to reverse any midnight proposals, primarily so they could reverse Clinton’s policies that put new rules in place to force employers to mitigate repetitive motion injuries. Wouldn’t it be funny if it were used to reverse a Republican’s midnight regulations!So, Bush has checked out, his aids are pushing through executive orders quickly enough so they can’t be reversed in the 60 day time period authorized in the Congressional Review Act … and Bush gave an interview to Charlie Gibson on ABC News. What does the do-nothing lame duck president regret about his eight years? That the intelligence on Saddam Hussein’s WMD was wrong. Would he go to war anyway if he knew Hussein didn’t have WMD? He wouldn’t say, it’s a “do-over” he can’t do over.
We as a nation are so ready to be done with Dubya. Just wish his aids would check out too; they can still do a lot of damage.
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