GWB's Best Moment--In His Own Words

It's not some flaming leftist saying this. George W. Bush himself, according to the Reuters newswire, told a German paper,

"I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake," he told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Pretty sad. An administration so disgraceful, so scandal-ridden, such a failure in both policy and operations that even the president can't think of anything he's proud of.

Georgie, my boy, let me prod your memory a bit--I can think of at least a few proud moments:

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, you made a conscious and I believe sincere effort to distinguish between the terrorists and ordinary Muslims and Arabs. Of course, that didn't stop various government agencies from coming down very hard on those communities, imprisoning people on spurious grounds, etc.

In one of your State of the Union addresses, you advocated hydrogen cars--a good thing, if designed in ways that foster sustainability and independence from the big oil companies. I think that was the same year your State of the Union speech honored Rosa Parks, who was in the audience.

And finally, in the very recent past you've said we must end our oil addiction. I'd like to think you're sincere about that, and that you'll follow up that statement with a significant infusion of R&D money into solar, wind, geothermal, even biodiesel (but not nuclear, for heaven's sake). In the nearly two years left in your administration, you could go down in history as the president who solarized America--a rather better legacy than catching a fish!

Your real legacy to date, however, is a lot less positive. To bring up just a handful of the many, many low points:

Lying repeatedly to get us into a stupid, stupid war in Iraq

Leaving New Orleans to drown

Doing nothing to prevent 9/11 even though evidence strongly suggests the attack was widely known, in advance

Overseeing an administration dogged by corruption, mismanagement, venality, yes-man-ism, and unwillingness to listen to critical voices

Turning over public resources for private gain

Squandering both the reservoir of international good will following 9/11 and the considerable surplus you inherited

And on and on it goes--this list could continue for pages. We've had presidents who were outdoorsmen before, including both Roosevelts and Ronald Reagan, among others. But never a president who felt his best moment in office was catching a fish!