Bush's "malignant" legacy

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 12:25:17 PM MST

In short, Bush has had many "substantial" accomplishments, although they're "almost entirely malignant." Bacevich is talking about, among other things, Bush's legacy of permanent war; using pre-emptive war as a viable foreign policy option; using the DoD  as a means for the projection of power, not defense; setting a precedent of "imperial" power over national security, weakening our system of checks and balances; and expanding the security state.

In essence, the Bush presidency has changed the very fabric of our executive branch and federal power, and for the worse. But the worst of this legacy is that is has gone largely unexamined and unchallenged by the media or by mainstream political players.

The burden of identifying and confronting the Bush legacy necessarily falls on Obama. Although for tactical reasons McCain will distance himself from the president's record, he largely subscribes to the principles informing Bush's post-9/11 policies. McCain's determination to stay the course in Iraq expresses his commitment not simply to the ongoing conflict there, but to the ideas that gave rise to that war in the first place. While McCain may differ with the president on certain particulars, his election will affirm the main thrust of Bush's approach to national security.

The challenge facing Obama is clear: he must go beyond merely pointing out the folly of the Iraq war; he must demonstrate that Iraq represents the truest manifestation of an approach to national security that is fundamentally flawed, thereby helping Americans discern the correct lessons of that misbegotten conflict.

And that, my friends, is why Obama's seeming embrace of the current FISA rewrite causes such vociferous reaction from those of us who want to see Bush's legacy erased.