This article from The Onion in January 2001 shows why The Onion remains among the best satire around. As absurd as this article sounds, it has proven all too true…
Under Bush, we can all look forward to military aggression, deregulation of dangerous, greedy industries, and the defunding of vital domestic social-service programs upon which millions depend.
I am not an economist, but my take on why the economy has held up as well as it has rests largely in a couple of factors: 1) the government has borrowed a lot of money, which helps to prop up the economy some, and 2) the inflation numbers have been fudged for quite a while, masking the dollar’s devaluation for normal Americans.
I think you paint the rosiest possible picture of historians looking back at Bush’s legacy wrt Iraq. I do hope, for the sake of the Iraqi people, that they are able to get a solid government together. If they don’t get it together, then Bush’s legacy could look more like: he took us into a war on false pretenses and statements contrary to the available intelligence, cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions in the process (some portion of which went to Bush Administration cronies), and destabilized Iraq, leading to greater death and mayhem than existed under the iron fist of Saddam Hussein. All of that while tossing out civil liberties here and basic human rights abroad.
You’re right that The Onion completely missed the civil liberties bit. And your not-explicitly-stated point that Bush is most definitely not responsible for some of the bad that’s happened over the last eight years. But, I still think the article is a good bit of satire.
While I support Obama, I’d say that whether Obama or McCain is in the Oval Office come January, I think we can look forward to better leadership, if nothing else.
By the way, thanks for the thoughtful response, Thomas.
Also, should anyone come here from Planet Python: sorry for this post showing up there. I have not yet heard back from the Python webmaster, and it appears that Planet Python has not yet switched feeds.
Yep, here from Planet Python :^)
Did you find that link yourself? Or did you read it somewhere else? Just curious if I cite it myself.
I believe I saw that on Digg.
I look at this as an example of how surprisingly tough this decade has been for Americans, especially coming after the very fortunate 90’s. First, we had the largest American non-wartime death total ever on September 11, 2001. Add to that some of the worst oil spikes we have ever witnessed, and jaw-droppingly irresponsible practices by real-estate lenders, and here we are. Bush has by no means been a good president, but my most significant beefs have nothing to do with the economy or even with the war in Iraq. I think it’s remarkable that our economy has been so sustained through these crises. In 100 years, the wide American disgust with the war in Iraq will only be remembered by presidential and epochal historians: That’s the reality of things; they always seem harder than stark historical analysis. If we continue progress in Iraq, or more accurately, they continue their own progress, Bush will in fact carry the legacy as the man who, in spite of a pusillanimous international community, pushed the envelope and liberated the Iraqis from Saddam Hussein.
The “satire” is merely a silly boilerplate criticism of modern Republican politics, although I think that the economic bit is misdirected. The Onion never foresaw torture in Guantanamo, the Patriot Act, and other variations on the “robbing Americans of their privacy and freedoms” theme. That’s the true tragedy of the Bush presidency, and I shudder to think of the possible long-term consequences. But I expect that, as with McCarthyism in the 40’s and 50’s, politicians will get their heads straight and/or be replaced by a new generation who will understand the importance of these civil liberties.