1-02-08, 10:05 am
Washington, Jan 1 (Prensa Latina) If the last days of 2007 are any indication, U.S. President George W. Bush's last year in office is shaping up as grim and lonely, says a commentary published here by Interpress Service.
Grim, because Bush's signature 'war on terror' is nowhere near the kind of 'victory' on which he had placed so much hope. Hundreds of billions of dollars from the U.S. Treasury have been spent, but the Middle East and the wider Islamic world is as ripped by war as ever.
The year that just concluded has been the deadliest for the US in its war efforts.
Grim, because the economic news has turned decidedly negative in recent months. The chances that his successor may inherit a recession, as well as the many foreign-policy fiascos created by the disastrous combination of the administration's ideological rigidity and incompetence, are growing steadily.
Lonely, not only because of the departure during the past year of virtually all of his closest and most long-standing loyalists – Dan Barlett, Karen Hughes, Harriet Miers, Alberto Gonzales, and Karl Rove – but also because he is seen increasingly as both a lame duck and an albatross around the necks of his party's candidates.
The fact that all of the major Republican candidates for this year's November elections, not only rarely evoke his name, but often suggest that his performance in office has been less than stellar, serves only to underline his marginalization.
As for the Democrats, Bush, whose public-approval ratings have hovered around 32 percent for more than a year (the worst sustained ratings of any president in more than 50 years), is the rhetorical most successful target.
According to recent surveys, the Democratic party has grown substantially over the past four years, largely as a result of what Bush's defenders have called 'Bush hatred.'
Bush, of course, is still hoping that 2008 may yet deliver his presidency from the fate of being judged as one of the very worst – if not the worst – in history.
A number of eminent historians have in fact already reached that judgement, based, among other things, on the strategic disaster of the Iraq war; the defiance of constitutional safeguards at home; the politicization of the system of justice; and the distortion of scientific research regarding global warming and other critical issues.
The initial signs after last month's Israeli-Palestinian Summit in Annapolis do not look particularly favorable. Israel has spurned a cease-fire offer by Hamas and, despite U.S. pressure, is playing coy about settlement activity in the contested Jerusalem area. Just how hard Bush is ready to press Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert remains unknown.
As for Iraq, a big question mark is whether the planned withdrawal of 30,000 US troops by July and 60,000 by the end of 2008 will do any good. While these three areas may offer the brightest prospects for redemption, new crises - particularly those arising from the 'war on terror' – could divert the administration's attention and further damage Bush's record.
The cynicism of this foreign policy as a number of experts here have noted, is that Bush lacks a 'Plan B,' facing these hot spots.
Now the prospect of a failed, nuclear-armed Pakistan with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto makes even Iraq – not to mention a uranium-enrichment program in Iran – look benign.
From Prensa Latina
