Maureen Dowd, "Silver Fox’s Pink Slip": Stuck in Puissant Elephant and Donkey Droppings

Make no mistake about it: George W. Bush was a disaster for the United States. The Second Gulf War destroyed the equilibrium that existed between Iraq and Iran in the Middle East, setting the stage for Iran's fanatic pursuit of dominion over the region. His introduction of ground forces into Afghanistan was a tragedy in the making, as he should have known from Russia's prior entry into this quagmire. His administration allowed Wall Street and the big banks to rape the US economy with the introduction of worthless, real estate-based derivatives, and the elimination of the Uptick Rule during his second term in office (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/04/paul-krugman-jobless-trap-castigating.html) continues to plague American productivity.

Could Americans possibly make it worse for themselves? Answer: Yes We Can! Enter Obama, the anti-Bush, or so many thought. Yet, five years later, American forces remain in Afghanistan, and Iran continues its quest for a nuclear weapon. The Uptick Rule has not been reinstated, and the American economy remains in the doldrums with federal debt fast approaching $17 trillion and almost 50 million Americans on food stamps.

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Silver Fox’s Pink Slip" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/dowd-the-silver-foxs-pink-slip.html?_r=0), Maureen Dowd takes another well-deserved swipe at George W. Bush on the occasion of the opening of his presidential library in Dallas. However, for me, what's past is past, and it's time to pick up the pieces, something at which the current occupant of the Oval Office has failed so miserably.

Of more interest to me is the opening of Dowd's opinion piece, in which she recounts Barbara Bush's recent admonition on the "Today" show that her son Jeb should not run for president in 2016. Dowd writes:

"But Bar, who was also giving the back of the hand to the Clintons, spit out the truth. It is wearying that America, a country that broke away from aristocratic England in a burst of rugged individualism, has spawned so many of its own royal political families, dynasties that feel entitled to inhabit the White House, generation after generation, letting their family competitions and tensions shape policy and history to an alarming degree.

Why does a George P., Chelsea, Beau Biden, Joe Kennedy III presidential sweepstakes feel so inevitable?"

God bless Barbara Bush, and may Hillary also relinquish any claim upon the White House.

Although managing high popularity ratings as secretary of state, seldom has a US government official travelled so far, yet accomplished so little. And then there was Hillary's outrageous testimony at the Senate Benghazi hearings. Just in case you missed it:

Senator Johnson: "We were misled that there were supposedly protests and then something sprang out of that. An assault sprang out of that. And that was easily ascertained that that was not the fact, and the American people could have known that within days, and they didn't know that."

Hillary: "With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans."

Senator Johnson: "I understand."

Hillary: "Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator."

Query: How do you figure out what happened in Benghazi and prevent it from ever happening again if you refuse to ascertain whether the deaths stemmed from a spontaneous protest or a planned attack by an al-Qaeda affiliate? It makes a big difference. In fact, I would say that it makes all the difference in the world if you want to take smart, effective measures to bolster US embassy defense and "to prevent it from ever happening again."

Please, God, is there no one out there but these narcissistic buffoons consumed with self-serving ambition?

You know the answer.