Stupidest Subtitle 2007 Contest

George Bush now has the same goal Gerald Ford did -- to prove he's not as bad as Nixon is the subtitle that Slate pins on this pretty good article by Bruce Reed. Actually, there doesn't seem to be any hint that Bush has even a clue as to what an unmitigated disaster his reign has been. Nixon was a very bad President, mainly because he was an unscrupulous and vengeful crook who always chose his own interests over the country's, but he wasn't stupid in the profoundly unself-critical way that George Bush is. Some things he did even benefitted the country.

I see no evidence that Bush has any clue as to what history is likely to think of him or how to change that grim judgement.

The most ruinous policies of Nixon were attempting to undermine the Constitution, wasting 25,000 American lives in a war that he knew was lost, and the misguided price controls that helped set the country up for subsequent problems. At least he didn't start the war he lost, and failed in his efforts to undermine the Constitution.

Nixon was dealt a difficult hand, and largely failed to solve the most crucial problems he faced - with at least one important success. Bush, on the other hand, was dealt an almost ideal hand, with the US militarily dominant, huge budget surpluses, and a small list of nagging problems, most significantly al Quaeda.

He ignored al Quaeda, frittered away the surpluses and trillions more, failed miserably in coping with smaller scale problems like Katrina, ran one of the most corrupt administrations in American history, largely wrecked the Army, let Russia become a dangerous power in Europe, let North Korea get nuclear weapons, and trashed the Constitution.

The US has had some terrible Presidents, but I can't believe any have failed so miserably while facing such relatively minor problems.

Bruce Reed:

The Nixon pardon was out of line for an unelected president, and Ford was deservedly unelected for it. But the nation healed anyway, and Ford's unassuming manner was a welcome tonic after the Nixon era. Ford's greatest achievement was simply not being the kind of president Nixon had been.

George W. Bush now finds himself in much the same position that Ford inherited when he took office in 1974 – preparing to serve out the unexpired two-year term of an extraordinarily unpopular president. The only difference is that Bush himself is the extraordinarily unpopular president.

Yeah, that's pretty similar. Pretty much as similar as night and day.

Reed doesn't really paint himself into a total corner until he tries to draw this unlikely parallel closer:

Bush and Cheney would no doubt prefer to ignore the country's wishes, and regard the Republican defeat in 2006 as sufficient punishment for their mistakes. But that's the same undemocratic route that got Bush into trouble in the first place.

The better path is Ford's more appealing legacy: his refreshing awareness that Americans put up with him only because he was better than the last guy. Bush's goal for his presidency is now exactly the same as Ford's: to prove he's not as bad as Nixon.

Bush has had better paths for all of his Presidency. His problem is that he is utterly clueless in his choices - or rather, that he is seemingly guided unerringly to the worst possible choice. It would be nice if he could do better. It would also be nice if I won the lottery.