Bush's Mistakes

On the mistakes issue, I agree it was Bush's worst moment. But again, my frustration lies in the fact that Kerry had a chance to bury him there. He focused solely on the war and the failure to continue the pursuit of Osama - this must be popular in the focus groups because he and Edwards seem to be inordinately obsessed with the talking point. I think he even dropped the infamous Halliburton word. But imagine the true response that Dean, or even Michael Moore, might have opted for: "The President has just been asked if he can recall any mistakes, and the only ones he will admit to are in some of his appointments. Maybe he is still mad at people he appointed that he has since fired for disagreeing with him. But do YOU see any mistakes made in the last four years? I do - in creating the largest deficit in our history, on the first loss of jobs in a Presidential term since Herbert Hoover, in his tax cut to the wealthiest 1% that has worsened the financial mess, in failing to focus on al Quada in his first months in office, in failing to hold anyone in the intelligence community accountable for the worst attack against us in our history, on the failure to protect social security, on the failure to find the funds for No Child Left Behind, in failing to invite allies back to the table in the reconstruction effort, in the handling of the Abu Gharib prison debacle, in declaring Mission Accomplished in Iraq when our soldiers continue to die everyday, and on and on and on... And the President's single greatest problem is not even that his policies have directly contributed to these gross errors, but that HE DOESN'T EVEN SEE THESE AS MISTAKES. Presidential elections are often seen as referendums on the incumbent, and President Bush tonight asked you to 'look at the record'. I ask you to look at his - and ask, can we afford another four years of this?" I wonder if it is pathological - the story of a spoiled kid who was never told he was doing something wrong. The case against a presiding Chief Executive has never been clearer though. Kerry must capitalize. In the next debate he must respond to the ludicrous taxation accusations and address Bush's new favorite word - Recession. I do like how the narrative is playing out.