If California can recall their governor because he f'ked up, why can't we recall the U.S. President because he f'ked up on Iraq (pre- and post-war) and our economy (which has been stifled by record deficits)? Tread carefully here kids--the Republicans started (and publicly backed) the California initiative.
Your question contains a unique perspective: an assumption on your part (and on the part of those who are seeking the democrat nomination for president, becuase they know they can't be seen as supporting the actions of the President) that we have somehow made an error in Iraq. If you look at what was being said by the naysayers beforehand, this has gone
extremely well. We knew that there would be pockets of strong resistance, as we have found in Falluja. We knew that keeping a peace would be more difficult than winning a war. But I never imagined two to five America casualties ever day. I expected a
hundred. So, by my standard, we are doing very well, indeed.
Ah, the economy. No president has an immediate effect on the economy. There is always a delay. Just now, last year's tax rebates are coming home to roost, having prevented far worse economic times. Walter Williams, the economist, has a bunch of good material on taxes and presidents.
Why are we in the situation we are in now? There are a number of reasons.
First, economies are cyclical in nature. After the greatest expansion in American history, this economy HAD to retract and regroup. Because of other factors, we have seen an
over correction.
Second, we (that's the sum of all investors) poured money into tech stocks and dot com's that we had imagined would make a "future" profit, and we valued them on that basis. We ended up with an entire market segment built on speculation, and people just kept piling on. It was a bubble that had to burst, and it did.
Third, executives engaged in the biggest swindles since Joseph Kennedy in the 1920's. Did you know that the huge Kennedy fortune was built on the then-legal practice of insider trading?
It is incorrect to lay the wrongdoings of these Enron and Arthur Anderson executives at the feet of Clinton, just because it happened on his watch. It is correct, however, to blame the declining moral and ethical fiber of our society for the declining ethics in accounting and trading that are the hallmarks of this wave of scandals.
Fourth, we are still adapting to a global economy, where fast shipping, the internet, and hundredes of millions of people who are happy to make three American dollars a day are changing the landscape of manufacturing. We are going to have to adapt as a nation and find the things that we make
best, and then be careful to avoid regulating the companies out of business, or simply out of the country. In many places, the environmental movement has accomplished its ultimate purpose: don't build anything here, and don't manufacture anything here. We have avoided environmental impact alright, but has this come at a price we are willing to pay as a nation? We have raised the minimum wage due to cries of "fairness!", but are we being fair to the thousands of Americans whose labor cost has priced them out of the job market? I think not.
Fifth, record deficits are the result when you must spend more than you are taking in, in this case to ramp up our hoplessly poor preparations for defense and anti-terrorism in the wake of 9-11. Fortunately, this condition will not last as we stimulate spending with tax cuts. I hope there will be more tax cuts among those people who pay the MOST taxes in America, so we can really get this wagon rolling.
Unfortunately, there is such lack of knowlege by many in the democrat base that this will be seen as "tax cuts for the rich" instead of "tax cuts for those who will need to hire more employees". Also, there is a lack of understanding that tax cuts increase revenues to the treasury.
Of course, if people understood the economic impact of tax cuts then there would be far fewer democrats, and the party sure isn't going to go out and give economics lessons that would support the President's policies. Instead, they are going to play to your emotions with rhetoric right out of the days of the Molly Maguire's and the sixties. As people become better educated, they have a larger stake in the society and they understand where they have been mislead. Keeping money flowing into public schools will ensure that we keep several generations so politically correct and "dumbed down" that the democrat base can flourish and be easily lead. Over time, this effort will fail.
As far as recall, this is a state by state phenomena. There is no provision in the US constitution for such a referendum as is in California. The closest we come to that is impeachment. I'm sure there will be a left wing attempt to impeach Bush, as I've already heard the rumblings. I'm sure you can get behind that, can't you, Aeroboy?
