Failure on a grand scale

I believe that Ted Kennedy expressed the sentiments of many of us last night:

The only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush.

That, I believe, is the fundamental problem of this administration. We no longer believe that it can do anything other than pursue the same wrong-headed policies it has before, and are frightened about the havoc it could wreak, given a second four-year term.

Fundamentally, the last four years have been about squandered opportunities. Three years ago, we had the support of (essentially) every nation on the planet, all of whom were willing to support us in a war on terrorism. [What exactlyis a "war on terror," anyways?] Instead, we threw away an international consensus to settle what seems, to me, to be a personal grudge.

More recently, the House was considering a bill which would have extended tax breaks to middle-class families (where it is needed most, and can do the most good). Bush had the bill killed. Why? Because too many Democrats would have voted for it, making it a non-starter as an election issue.

It's exactly this sort of short-sighted vision that is the cause of so many of our problems right now. A leader is someone who does what he knows is right, even though he knows he will suffer the consequences for doing so. A tyrant is someone who does what he thinks will keep him in power, regardless of the consequences of his actions.l

No points for guessing which camp our "Dear Leader" falls into.