We’re stuck with results of Bush years

Ken Anderson, Las Vegas

Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008 | 2 a.m.

For more than seven years, I have had to listen to President Bush’s supporters comparing President Clinton’s trysts in the White House with President Bush’s errors in judgment. There is no question that what Bill Clinton did was immoral and unethical; his allowing what transpired between him and Monica Lewinsky will live with him forever, and that is his problem.

On the other hand, before we jump on other people’s bandwagons and call Bush a liar, let us be fair and say that his decisions were made in good faith, but the results just can’t be overlooked. As Harry Truman said so well, “The buck stops here,” meaning that the president has the final word and, therefore, full blame or credit for his actions.

Thousands of Americans are dead as a result of the Iraq war, a war that seems to be going nowhere. And billions of dollars have been used to support the conflict, resulting in a serious fiscal and economic situation. It was Bush who chose to believe some intelligence and ignore others, then report it to Congress to influence its voting. I don’t hear anyone saying how Bush will have to live the rest of his life knowing that his judgment led to those results.

Richard Mundy’s Tuesday letter to the editor reflected on how other judgments made by The Decider have led to a wider gap between the very rich and the rest of us. Has that been as healthy for our economy as Mr. Bush said it would be? Not when it takes jobs away from Americans and sends those jobs abroad, because these corporate owners can parlay their windfall tax savings with overseas expansion to increase their personal gain.

Somehow, those who still support this president will continue to tell us that what Clinton did was far worse than the road The Decider has taken us on. Go figure.