Is Bush the Worst President We've Had?

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But neither the three Civil War-era failures, nor the corrupt Harding, another president not up to the job, approach Bush because only his blatant evasions, fearful miscalculations and his combination of arrogance and incompetence could escalate into a tragedy of worldwide proportions.

Bush manipulated the aftermath of 9/11, the greatest tragedy in our history, into the war in Iraq, a war against a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 and whose weapons of mass destruction, even had they existed, were of little or no immediate threat. He was so intent on completing his father’s war to his satisfaction that he and his 21st-century sycophants made no plans beyond the proclamation of "mission accomplished" three years ago.

As a consequence, we are left with nearly 3,000 American dead, tens of thousands more maimed and untold numbers of Iraqis murdered in the streets and in their homes. (We like the Iraqis a lot; we just don’t bother counting their dead.)

The monetary bill for this war is $2 trillion and counting, all of it in off-budget emergency funding with billions spent on projects unrelated to the war. The Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group has quaintly suggested that the people deserve to know how their money is being spent, something they can’t know when funds aren’t made part of the deficit or subject to Congressional oversight.

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But Congressional oversight is held in contempt by the Bush administration and that was so even when the toadies in his own party were in control. Bush has made an art form of the so-called signing statement, which he says gives him the authority to disobey laws passed by Congress on the grounds that they conflict with his personal interpretation of the Constitution. In less sophisticated venues, this would be considered the act of a dictator.

Finally, in the interest of giving full credit to the making of our worst president, let us not forget the contributions of his vice president and mentor, Dick Cheney. Is he our worst vice president? Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson’s vice president, offers some competition. He killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel while Cheney only winged a hunting companion. Burr was also tried but acquitted for treason after trying to establish an independent nation in the southwest. However, these events occurred after his vice presidency and he had no impact whatever on the splendid Jefferson presidency.

So, with Burr absolved, who else but Cheney?