A man unchanged by the times

Two years ago when President Bush was elected to the presidency, he was ridiculed by the mainstream press and viewed as a young cocaine-snorting puppet of an aging Dick Cheney. One day in September, however, changed all of that. Bush soon commanded a 90 percent approval rating, and the media bent over backwards to show what a great leader this man really was. Yet, what exactly did Bush do? More importantly, did he do anything at all?

Before Sept. 11, President Bush was a failure and was regarded by many people as a hollow figurehead for a Republican government. Under his watch, he managed to talk down the economy with his constant references to a recession and turn a surplus into a deficit. Of course the solution to all this was a tax cut, which thus far has worked extremely well. Bush was surprisingly even less effective on the international front. His opposition to the Kyoto Protocol earned him great admiration abroad, as did his thwarting of the Germ Warfare Treaty, and a general disregard for the United Nations, and anyone not red, white and blue. Bush had managed to isolate the United States from the world in his first eight months in office.

So what exactly happened on Sept. 11 that made Bush a great man? Yes, it is true that thousands of people died in a horrific terrorist attack on the United States of America, and at that time Dubya was the commander-in-chief. Supporting him, perhaps, for a couple of months is one thing, but showering praise and reverence on a foolish leader is ridiculous. When finding justification for his approval rating, most politicians praise Bush's "resolve" and "determination." For example, in Nashville last week, the President, with great clarity on the topic of Saddam Hussein, bellowed: "There's an old saying in Tennessee — pause — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — pause — that says, fool me once, shame on — pause — shame on you. Fool me — pause — you can't get fooled again." If I was Saddam Hussein, I would be wetting my pants — for two straight days.

After the World Trade Center attacks, Bush did not calm the fears of the American people, but rather inflamed passions and anger by turning the War on Terrorism into a conflict of Armageddon, pitting the United States against the evildoers of the Earth. Perhaps, it can be argued, that Americans needed Bush to guide their rage, and after all the target was the Osama bin Laden. However, President Bush failed at the one thing he is supposed to be good at: the War on Terrorism. Where is Osama bin Laden? Where is Mullah Omar? Where is Ayman Al-Zawahiri? President Bush has not only failed in bringing the principal perpetrators of Sept. 11 to justice, he has failed to stabilize Afghanistan and make it a safe country that will not be a haven for future terrorists. Most of the country is still ruled by warlords where there is a power vacuum.

Everybody gasped in awe after Sept. 11, as Bush gave great speeches for the American public. However, stringing together a few sentences does not make a person Martin Luther King. He is still just as awkward as he was before the terrorists attacks occurred.

For example, President Bush's solution to the forest fire problem in Oregon was to "thin" the forests and ease logging restrictions. I guess it's true that without trees there really wouldn't be as many forest fires. His knowledge of foreign affairs has also remained at the same high level. In July, while talking with Tony Blair about the failing French economy, Bush claimed to have discovered the reason: "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur." I wonder what language the word entrepreneur comes from? We should not, however, be surprised by Bush's linguistic mastery. This is the man who declared at a dinner in March 2001 "I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically."

President Bush is a foolish man who came to power with the right name, and at the right time. After Sept. 11, thousands of shrines have been set up around the country in his honor. We must ask ourselves if President Bush truly deserves the praise. Taufiq Rahim is a Wilson School major from Vancouver, British Columbia. He can be reached at trahim@princeton.edu.