Counting the days

Count me among those people counting the days, hours and minutes to the end of our national nightmare called the Bush administration. When I was first given my "Bush Countdown Clock", there were more than 300 days, so now with fewer than 7 days, I am close to ecstatic. It seems almost inconceivable that we are in the single digits, but here we are.

The press conference held at the White House today, Bush's "exit interview" was a stunning example of his disconnect from the real world where the rest of us live. We shouldn't be surprised that until the bitter, and I do mean bitter, end George W Bush, the Fratboy-in-Chief, is in denial for his failed policies and remains a man who never compromised his misguided and damaging principles and a man with few regrets. He smirked, he sighed, he rolled his eyes, he was defiant and defensive, angry and accusing. His Beevis & Butthead "heh-heh" grated on my nerves for the millionth time. If you missed it, you can hear it here. This press conference was his 8 years in office wrapped up in 47 painful minutes. If you had been living under a rock for the past 8 years, you would only need watch this performance to get the Cliff Notes. Thank god there is no quiz; we would pass just because we showed up and endured.

But don't count me among those who want to say good-bye to Bush. I'd prefer "see ya later". Goodbye, in this context means we never want to see him again, as in get thyself back to Crawford or Dallas, stay behind the secure walls of your new gated community and never darken our TV screens again. If we never hear from the 43rd president, some think it would be too soon. Not me. I do not want to hear another babbling, bumbling Bush speech. If the word malapropism didn't exist, we would call them bushisms for all his mangling of the language.

George Bush can go away for awhile, but I look forward to seeing him as he boards the plane to the Hague. I am counting the days. If the United States will not hold him and others in his administration accountable for crimes committed, then I invite another prosecutor from another country to do the job America will not. The subject of accountability is of interest to much of our population and is currently the leading question in the Foreign Policy section on Barack Obama's "change" website.

"Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

The answer must be an unequivocal YES. That would be a loud and clear message that no one is above the law and that the signatures on our own Constitution and the treaties that we put our names to represent America.

One more thing. Bush has long insisted that history will judge his presidency in good light and that he doesn't worry about it; he who isn't into self-pity. At the final press conference, when asked about his legacy, he responded

...I think historians will look back and they'll be able to have a better look at mistakes after some time has passed. Along Jake's question, there is no such thing as short-term history. I don't think you can possibly get the full breadth of an administration until time has passed: Where does a President's -- did a President's decisions have the impact that he thought they would, or he thought they would, over time? Or how did this President compare to future Presidents, given a set of circumstances that may be similar or not similar? I mean, there's -- it's just impossible to do. And I'm comfortable with that.

I beg to differ. I am comfortable that historians will judge George W Bush as the worst US president ever. I don't think he cares or even has the capacity to really care what others think, but I swear until my dying breath that no one will not allow anyone to forget the harm that this man did during his presidency. I will not allow the fading of history to lose sight of the human cost of his administration. George Bush will go to his grave believing that he did well for the country and I will go to my grave making sure that people remember these well-documented, hellish 8 years. I owe it to my country, but mostly, I owe it to my son, 1Lt Ken Ballard who was the 818th US soldier killed in Iraq.